HUD Audit Reveals $5.8 Billion in Potentially Improper Rental Assistance Payments Under Biden

About $77 million in payments were issued to nearly 30,000 deceased tenants.

Then-nominee for Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Scott Turner testifies before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 16, 2025. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

There was a “significant misuse” of taxpayer funds under the Biden administration concerning rental assistance, which resulted in potential payment errors of nearly $5.8 billion, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said in a statement on Dec. 30.

The findings were made when HUD’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer examined all project-based rental assistance and tenant-based rental assistance payments made by the agency in 2024 using advanced data analytics for the first time.

“Through a series of internal management reviews, HUD identified significant potential improper payments, process gaps, and material weaknesses,” the statement said.

The analysis found $5.2 billion in potential payment errors linked to inactive registrations at SAM.gov, the official website used by the federal government to publish and manage contracting opportunities. These are payments allegedly made to entities “not validated to do business with the Federal government.”

A ledger-to-subledger reconciliation identified $49.9 million of payments in the financial system that “do not match the detailed tenant-level records,” it said.

A total of $150.3 million in payments was issued to 9,472 tenants with Social Security numbers that did not meet the Social Security Administration’s rules. In addition, about $77 million was paid to 29,715 deceased tenants.

There was also a potential payment error of $287.6 million made to 165,393 individuals. These payments were deemed to be “exceeding reasonable” thresholds and made for “excessively high” rents.

In total, the potential payment error amounted to $5.78 billion to 204,611 individuals, for a payment error rate of 11.5 percent in fiscal year 2024, according to HUD.

The agency said it will continue to implement new processes to track how its funds are spent by Public Housing Authorities and HUD-funded grantees, ensuring efficiency, accountability, and transparency.

All findings from the analysis have been detailed in the Fiscal Year 2025 Agency Financial Report that was sent to Congress.

“A massive abuse of taxpayer dollars not only occurred under President Biden’s watch, but was effectively incentivized by his administration’s failure to implement strong financial controls resulting in billions’ worth of potential improper payments,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said.

“HUD will continue investigating the shocking results and will take appropriate action to hold bad actors accountable. Additionally, the Department is advancing efforts made under President Trump’s first administration to strengthen program integrity and ensure taxpayer-funded assistance serves the vulnerable communities it was intended for.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the former HUD management team for comment but did not receive a response.

While HUD is probing payment errors of the previous administration, Democratic lawmakers have accused the agency of mismanaging funds.

In a Sept. 11, 2025, letter to Brian Harrison, the acting inspector general of HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) asked the watchdog to review HUD actions related to the Continuum of Care (CoC) Builds funding competition.

“Specifically, we ask that the HUD OIG address whether HUD’s actions knowingly violated or intentionally circumvented Federal statutes, and whether HUD’s actions raise other concerns of fraud, waste, abuse, or mismanagement,” the lawmakers wrote.

CoC Builds funding was provided by Congress to help address high levels of homelessness. HUD issued three notices, inviting applications for the same $75 million funding—one on July 18, 2024; the second on May 16, 2025; and the third on Sept. 5, 2025, they said.

“Running three separate and very different funding competitions for the same set of funds is inefficient, wasteful, and no way to run any program,” the letter reads. “This Administration has now wasted hundreds of hours of local organizations’ time that could—and should—have been spent working to address homelessness.”

Fraud in Minnesota

During a Dec. 18 news conference, federal prosecutor Joe Thompson said that more than $9 billion could have been defrauded out of Minnesota’s social welfare programs, including housing initiatives.

Authorities have charged 13 people in connection with fraud related to Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services program, which used Medicaid dollars to prevent homelessness, especially among elderly and disabled people.

The program, which began in 2021, was expected to cost $2.5 million annually. However, costs have spiraled to more than $300 million in total, Thompson said. Minnesota shut the program down in October 2025.

Turner said in a Jan. 1 post on X that President Donald Trump has directed HUD to “root out fraud, waste, and abuse” in various programs in Minnesota. HUD is currently investigating the issue, Turner said.