In April 2020, a few weeks after passage of the CARES Act, HUD’s Office of the Inspector General published a COVID-19 Oversight Framework that described areas of the Act affecting HUD that the IG believed would deserve oversight attention.
OIG’s Oversight Framework
Areas of concern in the framework included:
- Rental Assistance: The CARES Act appropriated $2.25 billion for rental housing assistance and $15 million in particular for housing available to people with disabilities.
- Mortgage Loan Forbearance: The Act provided for up to 360 days’ mortgage forbearance for homeowners and up to 90 days’ forbearance for owners of apartment buildings with FHA-insured mortgages and prevents the initiation of eviction actions during that time. Ginnie Mae was authorized to guarantee payments on mortgage backed securities where issuers were unable to make those payments due to the pandemic.
- Vulnerable Populations: The CARES Act appropriated $4 billion for Emergency Shelter Grants, $65 million for Housing Opportunities for People with HIV-AIDS, and $50 million to assure the affordability of housing for elders, service coordinators, and congregate services
- Communities: The Act appropriated $5 billion for the CDBG program to support communities’ efforts to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
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