GAO issues report on TARP housing programs

This story appeared in Bank Digest.

The Government Accountability Office has issued a report on the status of the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program housing programs as of Oct. 31, 2016 (GAO-17-236). According to the report, as of that date, Treasury had disbursed $22.6 billion (60 percent) of the $37.51 billion TARP funds obligated to the three housing programs: the Making Home Affordable program, which was closed to applicants on Dec. 31, 2016; the Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (Hardest Hit Fund); and the Federal Housing Administration Short Refinance program.

The GAO made no new recommendations in the report but said that of the 29 recommendations it has previously made related to the TARP-funded housing programs, five remain open or not fully implemented. The GAO said it will continue to monitor and assess the status of these recommendations.