12/14/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/14/2022 12:57
Through the Troubled Asset Relief Program, Treasury provided $33 billion to 3 federal programs to help prevent home foreclosures.
We reviewed the status of these programs.
The Hardest Hit Fund ended in March 2022.
The Short Refinance program is slated to wind down by the end of 2022.
The Making Home Affordable (MHA) program is slated to wind down by early 2024. Treasury has already deobligated billions of dollars from this program. These funds are no longer available for the program's use but remain at Treasury.
We previously recommended that Congress permanently rescind deobligated MHA funds so that they can be used for other priorities.
As of September 30, 2022, the Department of the Treasury had disbursed $31.66 billion (about 97 percent) of the $32.55 billion in Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) funds. These funds were obligated to the Making Home Affordable (MHA), Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (Hardest Hit Fund), and the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Short Refinance programs. The MHA and FHA Short Refinance programs are in the process of winding down. All assistance provided through the Hardest Hit Fund ended as of March 31, 2022, and the program is now closed.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act provided GAO with broad oversight authorities for actions taken under TARP and included a provision that we report on TARP activities. GAO has continued to provide updates on TARP programs. This report focuses on the status of the two remaining TARP-funded housing programs, as of September 30, 2022.
To describe program activities, expenditures, and disbursement status of the TARP-funded housing program, GAO reviewed the most recently available public data, including Treasury funding transaction reports, monthly reports to Congress, and agency financial reports. These data were generally current, as of September 30, 2022.
GAO also reviewed audits of TARP financial statements for fiscal years 2019 through 2022, and interviewed Treasury officials and obtained documentation on Treasury's efforts to wind down the MHA and Hardest Hit Fund programs.
In March 2016, we recommended that Congress consider permanently rescinding any excess MHA balances that Treasury deobligated and did not move into the Hardest Hit Fund.