Operation Safe Home, B-285066.2, August 9, 2000

B-285066.2 Aug 09, 2000 Jump To VIEW DECISION DOWNLOADS RELATED PAGES GAO CONTACTS Highlights GAO provided information on the gun buyback program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) under Operation Safe Home, focusing on whether the: (1) OIG has used Operation Safe Home funds for that purpose; and (2) OIG has the legal authority to use funds appropriated for Operation Safe Home for gun buyback programs. GAO noted that: (1) OIG has used $30,000 of Operation Safe Home appropriations to finance a gun buyback program in association with the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department; and (2) OIG has the authority to use funds appropriated for Operation Safe Home to fund a gun buyback program in the District of Columbia. View Decision Subject: Operation Safe Home File: B-285066.2 Date: August 9, 2000 The Honorable James Walsh Chairman The Honorable Alan Mollohan Ranking Minority Member Subcommittee on VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies Committee on Appropriations House of Representatives This responds to your inquiry of March 30, 2000, concerning the gun buyback program administered by the Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) under Operation Safe Home. You asked whether in fact the OIG has used Operation Safe Home funds for that purpose. You also asked whether the OIG has the legal authority to use funds appropriated for Operation Safe Home for gun buyback programs. By letter dated April 7, 2000, we asked the HUD OIG for an explanation of its authority to administer a gun buyback program as part of Operation Safe Home and for information regarding the amount of funds obligated and expended for gun buybacks. The OIG responded by letters dated May 1 and 23, 2000, and met with us on May 23, 2000 to discuss these issues. The OIG informed us that it has used $30,000 of Operation Safe Home appropriations to finance a gun buyback program in association with the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD). For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that on balance the OIG has the authority to use funds appropriated for Operation Safe Home to fund a gun buyback program in the District of Columbia. Apart from the legal issue addressed in this opinion, we have concerns about the impact of the OIG's responsibilities for the Operation Safe Home program on the office's independence to perform audit and investigative functions. Background Operation Safe Home began in February 1994 as an anti-crime initiative by the Secretary of HUD, the HUD OIG, the Attorney General, the Secretary of the Treasury and the National Drug Control Policy Director. The initiative focused on auditing and investigating activities that undermine HUD programs and the federal investment in public housing. Since fiscal year 1996, Congress has appropriated funds as a set-aside in HUD's Public Housing Drug Elimination Grants Program (PHDEG) appropriation for: "efforts to combat violent crime in public and assisted housing under the Operation Safe Home program administered by the Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development." Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2000 (VA, HUD Appropriations Act), Pub. L. No. 106-74, 113 Stat. 1047,1058 (1999) (appropriating $10 million). /1/ The funds appropriated for efforts to combat violent crime under Operation Safe Home are maintained in the PHDEG account under the OIG's control. The funds earmarked in the PHDEG account remain available until expended. /2/ It is the availability of this appropriation to fund gun buybacks that is at issue. As described by the OIG, "[t]he goal of Operation Safe Home is to stop major abuses in HUD programs that result in unacceptable living conditions for the millions of needy people who look to HUD for help." OIG Semiannual Report to the Congress for the period ending March 31, 1994. Operation Safe Home consists of audits and investigations carried out by the HUD OIG to reduce three major types of criminal activity undermining HUD programs: (1) violent crime in public housing, (2) fraud in public housing, and (3) equity skimming in multifamily insured housing. The issues we are presented with involve the first category of activity, namely, Operation Safe Home's investigation of violent crime in public housing. OIG conducts Operation Safe Home investigations in coordination with the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Department of Treasury (Treasury), and related agencies such as, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Based upon allegations of violent and drug-related crime in public and assisted housing, OIG opens cases or investigations in collaboration with law enforcement task forces.