**GAO-09-671**                      Published: Jun 19, 2009. Publicly Released: Jun 19, 2009.                  

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## Highlights

GAO's previous work on Hurricanes Katrina and Rita identified fraud, waste, and abuse resulting from a lack of fraud-prevention controls within the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) assistance programs. For example, FEMA did not verify the identities or addresses of individuals applying for aid under its Individuals and Households Program (IHP). FEMA also did not verify the eligibility of individuals seeking shelter in FEMA-paid-for hotels and made duplicate payments to individuals who applied multiple times. GAO made numerous recommendations designed to improve these controls. To follow up on this work, GAO conducted undercover tests of the IHP process during the response to Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. This report discusses (1) whether FEMA's controls have improved since Katrina and Rita and (2) issues GAO identified related to the customer service that FEMA provided. GAO submitted bogus applications for disaster assistance, met with FEMA officials, and contacted actual disaster victims to determine their experiences applying for aid.

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## Topics

Economic Development

AccountabilityCustomer serviceDisaster recoveryDisaster recovery plansDisaster relief aidDocumentationEligibility criteriaEligibility determinationsErroneous paymentsFraudHousingHurricane KatrinaHurricanesIdentity verificationInspectionInternal controlsProgram abusesPropertyProperty damagesVictim compensationDisaster housingPolicies and proceduresWaste, fraud, and abuse