The Puerto Rico Department of Housing Did Not Properly Administer $90.79 Million of FEMA Grant Funds Awarded for the New Secure Housing Program

The Puerto Rico Department of Housing received two Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) grant awards totaling $186.13 million to implement the New Secure Housing Program following Hurricane Georges in September 1998. In August 2012, the Puerto Rico Department of Housing submitted final expenditure claims totaling $184.34 million. FEMA requested that we audit these claims to facilitate closeout of the grants. The Puerto Rico Department of Housing did not always account for and expend FEMA grant funds awarded for the New Secure Housing Program according to Federal requirements. Of the $179.98 million of construction costs the Puerto Rico Department of Housing claimed, we found that $90.79 million was ineligible. The majority of these findings occurred because the Puerto Rico Emergency Management Agency, as the grantee, should have done a better job of managing the grants.