Multifamily Housing: Impediments to Disposition of Properties Owned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
Highlights
GAO discussed the impediments to the sale of Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) multi-family property. GAO noted that: (1) the shortage of project-based federal housing preservation funding was the most significant impediment to the HUD multi-family property disposition program; (2) federal housing law requires that HUD preserve housing for 15 years; (3) the annual cost of preserving and foreclosing HUD-owned property could total $4 billion; (4) HUD has not received sufficient Section 8 funding to dispose of its inventory or meet the preservation requirement because of budgetary constraints and interdepartmental program funding competition; and (5) in 1992, HUD incurred $248 million in operating and debt service expenses due to the differences in property revenue and property expenses.