The Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office (OIG), tasked with overseeing FEMA’s performance, confirmed that more than a dozen FEMA audits were found to have excluded shortcomings identified by OIG staff and were replaced with language praising the agency’s relief efforts.
The office released an internal audit in May 2019 stating that Homeland Security Department Acting Inspector General John V. Kelly had directed staff to write “feel good” reports and not to identify “systemic problems” at the agency. Instead staff were instructed to write separate “spin-off reports” on issues with the agency’s disaster response efforts. Many of the systemic failures ignored in the reports include issues raised by the NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition and other advocates for several years, including barriers to accessing FEMA individual assistance, actions that increased homelessness, and the unacceptably slow delivery of temporary housing solutions.
Staff with the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that oversees FEMA informed NLIHC they will receive a briefing on the internal audit this week (the week of June 10).
Read the report at: https://bit.ly/2Mwiiud