HUD Office of Inspector General
Summary
HUD's in-house fraud watchdog, funded at $144.5 million and 460 people in FY2026, saw its investigations recover $79.8 million and produce 90 indictments in FY2025 alone -- the Good Citizen series' entry on the oversight office much of our HUD reporting cites.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
In fiscal year 2025, audits recommended $43.1 million in funds be put to better use, found $227.6 million in questioned costs, and produced $29.1 million in collections⧉; its investigations yielded $79.8 million in total recoveries and receivables, $18.1 million of it returned to HUD programs⧉ -- producing 56 arrests, 90 indictments, and 85 convictions. The Hotline triaged more than 28,000 complaints of fraud, waste, and abuse that year⧉.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Congress enacted $144.5 million for HUD OIG in fiscal year 2026⧉ -- 5.2 percent below FY2025's $152.4 million in actual spending -- funding 460 full-time staff, down from 493 the year before⧉. 's own budget documents put its rental assistance programs at over 4.4 million families served in 2024⧉; against that base, the FY2026 budget works out to about $32.84 per -assisted household.
View data as table
| Investigations: total recoveries & receivables | 79.8 | $18.1M of it returned to HUD programs |
|---|---|---|
| Audits: funds put to better use | 43.1 | |
| Audits: collections | 29.1 | |
| Investigations: returned directly to HUD programs | 18.1 |
Why is it good for society?
's own numbers show the gap fills: for eight consecutive years OIG has reported that HUD cannot reliably test for improper payments⧉ in its two largest rental assistance programs, which alone disbursed $50 billion in FY2024⧉; now runs its own improper-payment audits because has not completed that testing itself. Without that independent check, the counterfactual sits in this year's own numbers: the 90 indictments and 85 convictions⧉ 's FY2025 investigations produced would go unprosecuted, and the $79.8 million recovered⧉ would stay lost to 's programs.
- 's FY2025 investigations recovered $79.8 million and produced 90 indictments -- more than 2.5 times the $29.1 million its audits collected that year.
- Congress cut 's FY2026 budget 5.2% below FY2025 actual spending, to 460 FTEs from 493, even as the office triaged more than 28,000 hotline complaints.
Your handles.* Report -related fraud, waste, or abuse -- anonymously if you choose -- through 's Hotline. To flag a specific housing authority or landlord, contact your local HUD Public Housing Agency office. 's Semiannual Reports to Congress post twice a year.
Sources(4) ▾
- U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo.gov, Statutes at Large), Inspector General Act of 1978 (Public Law 95-452, 92 Stat. 1101) (1978-10-12) — The original enacted text of the Inspector General Act of 1978, which established the Office of Inspector General at directly in Section 2 alongside eleven other departments and agencies -- the statutory-creation source for this entry's identity section. govinfo.gov's Statutes at Large PDF link is itself the authoritative one-click original-document copy; a Wayback capture was also requested and confirmed live. govinfo.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General -- FY 2027 Congressional Justification, Salaries and Expenses (2026-04-03) — 's own FY2027 budget submission to Congress, filed as part of the FY2027 President's Budget (transmitted April 3, 2026) -- its Salaries and Expenses table gives the most current dated FY2025 actual, FY2026 ENACTED, and FY2027 request summary of 's own budget authority and staffing (the source for this entry's budget/ KPIs), and its Investigative Excellence section states 's FY2025 hotline complaint volume. Direct HTTPS fetch via curl succeeded (200); a fresh Wayback capture was also requested and confirmed live at the archiveUrl above. hud.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General -- FY 2026 Congressional Justification, Salaries and Expenses (2025-05-30) — 's FY2026 budget submission (the prior budget cycle) -- its Key Operational Initiatives section states 's rental-assistance beneficiary count (the source for this entry's per-household denominator) and describes 's persistent, multi-year improper-payments problem in its two largest rental assistance programs, which the entry's mechanism/counterfactual section relies on. Direct HTTPS fetch via curl succeeded (200); the URL itself is the one-click original-document link. A pre-existing Wayback capture from 2026-05-15 is also on file. hud.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, HUD OIG Semiannual Report to Congress for the Period April 1, 2025, through September 30, 2025 (SAR 94) (2025-12-29) — 's statutorily required semiannual report to Congress under the Inspector General Act, as amended -- its Profile of Performance table (p.5) gives full fiscal-year-2025 audit and investigative results (funds put to better use, questioned costs, collections, recoveries and receivables, arrests, indictments, and convictions), the source for this entry's workload and mechanism/counterfactual figures. hudoig.gov blocks default automated fetch clients with a Cloudflare bot challenge (403 to both WebFetch and curl); direct curl with a standard browser user agent returned HTTP 200 and the full PDF, which is the source of every quote below. A pre-existing Wayback capture from 2026-02-18 is also on file. hudoig.gov · original document
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's Office of Inspector General was created directly by the Inspector General Act of 1978⧉, enacted October 12, 1978, which named as one of twelve original departments and agencies to receive an independent Inspector General "to conduct and supervise audits and investigations relating to programs and operations" and keep the Secretary and Congress "fully and currently informed about problems and deficiencies." The Inspector General is appointed by the President with Senate confirmation⧉ and reports independently of 's own leadership.