OIG-CA-26-027: Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA1) – Notice of Recoupment, Harris County, Texas

Summary

A March 30, 2026 memorandum (OIG-CA-26-027) from Pauletta P. Battle, Assistant Inspector General for Audit, to Jeffrey W. Stout is a notice of recoupment for Harris County, Texas under the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA1). It states that Harris County issued financial assistance totaling $67,261 in violation of the Use of Funds statute because the funds were disbursed to ineligible households. Harris County returned $2,249 in February 2024 and provided support that it returned $3,040 to Treasury in September 2025, and on February 25, 2026 it reimbursed the Federal government for $61,972. The memorandum makes no recommendation to Treasury management.

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Issuer: Inspector general and oversight reports
Document type: Oig Ca 26 027 Emergency Rental Assistance Program Era1 Notice Of Recoupment Harris C
Case: Oig Ca 26 027 Emergency Rental Assistance Program Era1 Notice Of Recoupment Harris C

Cite this document

“OIG-CA-26-027: Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA1) – Notice of Recoupment, Harris County, Texas.” Original at oig.treasury.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/oig-ca-26-027-emergency-rental-assistance-program-era1-notice-of-recoupment-harris-c/, SHA-256 9d3c3a29c57f7e81577c713ce61fa01ad9e61e20e65812f1c1d8b87d6f5cc400.

Full text

w DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
W ASHINGTON, D.C. 20220

OFFICE OF
INSPECTOR GENERAL
March 30, 2026

OIG-CA-26-027

MEMORANDUM FOR JEFFREY W. STOUT
ACTING CHIEF PROGRAM OFFICER, OFFICE OF CAPITAL
ACCESS

FROM: Pauletta P. Battle /s/
Assistant Inspector General for Audit

SUBJECT: Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERA1) – Notice of
Recoupment, Harris County, Texas

During our desk reviews of the City of Houston, Texas and Harris County,
Texas (Harris County) (collectively, the grantees), we determined that Harris
County issued financial assistance totaling $67,261 in violation of the Emergency
Rental Assistance (ERA1) 1 Use of Funds statute 2 because the funds were
disbursed to ineligible households. Harris County returned $2,249 of the identified
funds in February 2024. On February 5, 2026, we provided the Final Notice of
Recoupment to Harris County for the remaining $65,012. In response, Harris
County provided support that it returned $3,040 to Treasury in September 2025
and notified our office that it planned to return the remaining $61,972. On
February 25, 2026, Harris County reimbursed the Federal government for
$61,972. Accordingly, we make no recommendation to Treasury management in
this memorandum.
We provided Harris County a draft of the Notice of Recoupment and asked for a
formal response. We include Harris County management’s written response and
our evaluation of that response in this memorandum. See Appendix 1 for Harris
County’s response in its entirety.
Background/Legal Authority
Under the ERA1 statute at 15 U.S.C. § 9058a(c), Use of Funds, an eligible grantee
shall only use ERA1 award funds to provide financial assistance and housing
stability services to eligible households. The financial assistance includes: the

1
The statute authorizing ERA1 is codified at 15 U.S.C § 9058a.
2
15 U.S.C. § 9058a(c).

1
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
payment of rent; rent arrears; utilities and home energy costs; utilities and home
energy costs arrears; and other expenses related to housing incurred due, directly
or indirectly, to the COVID-19 outbreak, as defined by the Secretary of the
Department of the Treasury (Treasury). Such assistance shall be provided for a
period not to exceed 12 months except that grantees may provide assistance for
an additional 3 months to ensure housing stability (subject to availability of funds).
The ERA1 statute at 15 U.S.C. § 9058a(c)(2)(B)(i) allows for up to 3 months (with
exceptions) for prospective rent payments within the 12 or 15 months total
assistance limitation.
The ERA1 statute at 15 U.S.C. § 9058a(k)(3)(A) defines eligible household as a
household of one or more individuals who are obligated to pay rent on a residential
dwelling and with respect to which the eligible grantee involved determines:
(1) that one or more individuals within the household has (a) qualified for
unemployment benefits or (b) experienced a reduction in household income,
incurred significant costs, or experienced other financial hardship due, directly or
indirectly, to the COVID-19 outbreak, which the applicant shall attest in writing;
(2) one or more individuals within the household can demonstrate a risk of
experiencing homelessness or housing instability, which may include a past due
utility or rent notice or eviction notice; unsafe or unhealthy living conditions; or any
other evidence of such risk, as determined by the eligible grantee involved; and
(3) the household has a household income that is not more than 80 percent of the
area median income for the household. The grantee must also ensure that, to the
extent feasible, any rental assistance provided to an eligible household is not
duplicative of any other federally funded rental assistance provided to such
household.
Pursuant to the ERA1 statute at 15 U.S.C. § 9058a(e)(2), the last day of the
period of performance for grantees that received ERA1 reallocated funds was
December 29, 2022.
The ERA1 statute at 15 U.S.C. § 9058a(i), Inspector General Oversight;
Recoupment, directs that the Treasury Office of Inspector General (OIG) conduct
monitoring and oversight of the receipt, disbursement, and use of funds made
available under the ERA1 program. As part of this authority, if OIG determines that
a grantee failed to comply with the use of funds requirements in the ERA1
statute (15 U.S.C. § 9058a(c)), the amount equal to the amount of funds used in
violation of 15 U.S.C. § 9058a(c) shall be booked as a debt of such entity owed to
the Federal government. Amounts recovered shall be deposited into the general
fund of the Treasury.

2
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
Facts and Analysis
As part of our desk reviews of the grantees, 3 we identified 21,123 potential
duplicative ERA1 payments in grantee-submitted data through December 2021. We
then selected a non-statistical sample of 50 beneficiaries from those payments for
further review. We identified duplicative assistance, assistance exceeding
15 months, payments for ineligible expenses, or other payment errors relating to
21 of the 50 beneficiaries, totaling $110,928 of overpayments in violation of the
requirements included in the ERA1 statute at 15 U.S.C. § 9058a(c), Use of Funds.
We worked with the grantees to confirm the payment exceptions and issued a
report discussing that work in detail. 4
We communicated our results and observations to the grantees relating to the
$110,928 in overpayments we identified. In response, grantee management
informed us that they are pursuing recoupment of overpayments from the payees
and initiating an internal review of supporting eligibility documentation. The
grantees also recharacterized 5 $12,686 of the $110,928. As a result, $98,242
remains as ineligible ERA1 payments from our review.
Of the $98,242, we determined that Harris County issued financial assistance
totaling $67,261 in violation of the ERA1 statute at 15 U.S.C. § 9058a(c), Use of
Funds. We issued a separate recoupment notice to the City of Houston for the
remaining ineligible ERA1 payments in the amount of $30,981. 6 Harris County’s
cases 1 through 7 are summarized below.
1. Harris County Case 1
Case number (no.): (b) (6)
Amount: $30,000
Assistance invoice nos.: (b) (6)
,

3
Houston and Harris County jointly ran their Emergency Rental Assistance Program; however, the
grantees maintained separate funding and reporting functions.
4
Treasury OIG, Emergency Rental Assistance: Desk Review of Emergency Rental Assistance
Payments Made by Houston, TX and Harris County, TX, OIG-CA-24-029 (September 26, 2024).
5
According to Department of the Treasury, “Emergency Rental Assistance Frequently Asked
Questions” (May 10, 2023), https://home.treasury.gov/system/files/136/FAQs-05102023.pdf
(accessed October 26, 2023), question 45, there may be cases in which a grantee discovers that
a household has received ERA assistance from multiple grantees intended to cover the same
period of rent, utilities, rental arrears, or utility arrears. In such cases, assuming certain
conditions are met, the grantee may decline to recover its payment and instead recharacterize it
as assistance covering a different period of eligible rental or utility expenses.
6
Treasury OIG, Notice of Recoupment – City of Houston, TX, OIG-CA-26-025 (March 12, 2026).

3
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
(b) (6)

Use of funds violation: Ineligible and partial duplicate payments
The supporting documentation for case no. (b) (6) is insufficient to
determine eligibility. The applicant’s eligibility documentation did not
establish adequate proof of identification (ID) in accordance with the
Houston-Harris ERA Program guidelines and Treasury guidance. The case
file included a permanent resident card with an expiration date of
September 27, 2003. The tenant signed the application on April 12,
2021, almost 18 years after the identification expired.
We believe accepting an expired identification that is almost two decades
old does not meet the intent of the program’s proof of identification
requirement to determine eligibility and does not comply with Treasury
Frequently Asked Questions guidance. According to the Houston-Harris
ERA program guidelines, acceptable documents to confirm the identity of
the tenant are: driver’s license or other state-issued ID, U.S. passport,
school ID, nonprofit membership ID, US Visa, work permit, permanent
resident card, Office of Refugee Resettlement ID, work ID, library card,
handgun license, US military card, or a Texas Election ID certificate. Also,
Treasury’s Frequently Asked Question 1 states grantees must have in
place reasonable validation or fraud -prevention procedures to prevent
abuse.
In addition, both the City of Houston and Harris County provided financial
assistance to the same address for overlapping time periods. Houston
initially provided financial assistance for an applicant at this address for
$2,000 per month for 10 months from September 2020 to June 2021,
under case no. (b) (6) . Harris County later paid a different applicant
$2,000 in financial assistance for 15 months from April 2020 to
June 2021, under case no. (b) (6) .
Thus, we determined the applicant was not eligible for assistance and
that Harris County provided 15 months of ERA1 financial assistance in
the amount of $30,000 in violation of the Use of Funds statute.
2. Harris County Case 2
Case nos.: (b) (6) and (b) (6)
Amount: $19,182
Assistance invoices for case nos. (b) (6)

Assistance invoices for case nos. (b) (6)

4
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
(b) (6)

Use of funds violation: Duplicate assistance
Houston and Harris County collectively provided the household
39 months of financial assistance under three cases. Houston provided a
total of 13 months of assistance for one case ($345 for June 2020 and
$819 per month for 12 months, July 2020 to June 2021, under case
no. (b) (6) ). Harris County provided a total of 26 months of assistance
for two cases ($819 per month for 15 months, May 2020 to July 2021,
under case no. (b) (6) and $345 for June 2020 and $819 per month
for 10 months, July 2020 to April 2021, under case no. (b) (6) ).
Of the 39 months of financial assistance provided for the three cases,
24 months were duplicative. Harris County issued 11 months of
duplicative financial assistance under case no. (b) (6) totaling $8,535
($345 for 1 month and $819 per month for 10 months) from June 2020
to April 2021; and 13 months of duplicative financial assistance under
case no. (b) (6) totaling $10,647 ($819 per month for 13 months)
from June 2020 to June 2021. We do not consider the financial
assistance provided for May 2020 and July 2021 from case no. (b) (6)
as duplicate financial assistance because under case no. (b) (6) ,
Houston did not provide financial assistance to the household for these
months.
Harris County is responsible for the payment due to the program’s
practice that the second payer will pursue reallocation or recapture. Thus,
we determined that Harris County provided duplicative ERA1 financial
assistance for 24 months, totaling $19,182 (23 months at $819 per
month and 1 month at $345) in violation of the Use of Funds statute.
3. Harris County Case 3
Case no.: (b) (6)
Amount: $5,890
Assistance invoices nos.: (b) (6)

Use of funds violation: Duplicate assistance
Houston and Harris County collectively provided the household
20 months of financial assistance under two cases. Houston initially
provided 12 months of financial assistance of $950 per month for
10 months, September 2020 to June 2021; and $1,000 per month for
2 months, July 2021 to August 2021, under case no. (b) (6) . Harris
County provided financial assistance to another applicant in the same
household of $95 per month for 2 months, September 2020 to

5
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
October 2020; and $950 per month for 6 months, November 2020 to
April 2021, under case no. (b) (6) .
Harris County is responsible for the payment due to the program’s
practice that the second payer will pursue reallocation or recapture. Thus,
we determined that Harris County provided duplicate ERA1 financial
assistance for 8 months, totaling $5,890 (2 months at $95 per month
and 6 months at $950 per month) in violation of the Use of Funds
statute.
In September 2025, Harris County returned $3,040 to Treasury related to
the duplicate ERA1 financial assistance for September to October 2020
and February to March 2021.
4. Harris County Case 4
Case no.: (b) (6)
Amount: $5,000
Assistance invoice nos.: (b) (6)

Use of funds violation: Payments over 15-month ERA1 limitation
Houston and Harris County collectively provided the household
23 months of financial assistance under three cases. Houston provided a
total of 10 months of financial assistance to the household under two
cases. Case no. (b) (6) included $1,000 per month for 3 months,
May 2021 to July 2021, to one applicant. Case no. (b) (6) included
$1,000 per month for 7 months, March 2022 to June 2022 and
September 2022 to November 2022, to another applicant who resided in
the same household. Harris County then provided additional financial
assistance of $1,000 per month for 13 months, April 2020 to
April 2021, under case no. (b) (6) .
Harris County recharacterized the entire 13 months of financial assistance
for case no. (b) (6) to ERA2. 7 However, only 8 months of financial
assistance are eligible for recharacterization due to the 18-month ERA
limitation. 8 Thus, we determined that Harris County provided excess
ERA1 financial assistance for 5 months at $1,000 per month, totaling
$5,000 in violation of the Use of Funds statute.

7
The statute authorizing ERA2 is codified at 15 U.S.C. § 9058c.
8
P.L. 117-2 (March 11, 2021), the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 increased the monthly limit
of total ERA that a beneficiary may receive from 15 months under ERA1 to no longer than
18 months of combined ERA1 and ERA2 funding.

6
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
5. Harris County Case 5
Case no.: (b) (6)
Amount: $3,940
Assistance invoice nos.: (b) (6)

Use of funds violation: Duplicate assistance
Houston and Harris County collectively provided the household 8 months
of financial assistance under two cases. Houston first provided financial
assistance of $985 per month for 4 months, January 2021 to April 2021,
under case no. (b) (6) . Harris County then provided financial assistance
under case no. (b) (6) for a different applicant in the same household
for the same benefit months. Harris County is responsible for the
payment due to the program’s practice that the second payer will pursue
reallocation or recapture.
Harris County stated that it recharacterized these funds to ERA2 and
recovered them. However, the funds were not eligible for
recharacterization because Harris County made ineligible payments under
ERA1. Thus, we determined that Harris County provided duplicate ERA1
financial assistance for 4 months at $985 per month, totaling $3,940 in
violation of the Use of Funds statute.
6. Harris County Case 6
Case no.: (b) (6)
Amount: $2,249
Assistance invoice nos.: (b) (6)

Use of Funds violation: Payments over the 15-month ERA1 limitation
Houston and Harris County collectively provided the household
18 months of financial assistance under two cases. Houston provided
financial assistance of $860 per month for 6 months, February 2021 to
July 2021, under case no. (b) (6) . Harris County then provided
12 months of financial assistance at $150 per month for
September 2021; $505 per month for 9 months, October 2021 to
June 2022; and $872 per month for 2 months, July 2022 to
August 2022, under case no. (b) (6) . Harris County paid the household
3 months of financial assistance over the 15-month ERA1 limitation from
June 2022 to August 2022.
Harris County is responsible for the payment due to the program’s
practice that the second payer will pursue reallocation or recapture. Thus,
we determined that Harris County provided 3 months of excess ERA1
financial assistance, totaling $2,249 (1 month at $505 and 2 months at
$872 per month) in violation of the Use of Funds statute.

7
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
Grantee Response
We provided Harris County an opportunity to respond to the Proposed Notice of
Recoupment. On May 6, 2025, Harris County management provided a written
response. See Appendix I for the response in its entirety.
Harris County management agreed that the rental assistance payments detailed in
our Proposed Notice of Recoupment are ineligible expenses under the ERA1 grant.
Harris County management stated they have initiated recapture of these payments
and only recovered funds related to cases 5 ((b) (6) and 6 (b) (6) . Harris
County returned the funds for case 6 ((b) (6) to Treasury in February 2024.
Harris County management did not agree that payments were issued in violation of
the ERA1 statute at 15 U.S.C. 9058a(c), Use of Funds, except for
case 1 ((b) (6) that did not have sufficient proof of identification to determine
eligibility; and case 6 ((b) (6) that exceeded the 15-month limitation of ERA1.
Harris County management asserted that the payments for cases 2 ((b) (6)
and (b) (6) 3 ((b) (6) 4 ((b) (6) 5 ((b) (6) and 7 ((b) (6) had been
made to eligible households within program procedures to prevent and/or identify
duplication of Federally funded assistance to the extent feasible. Also, management
noted they recharacterized all cases, except cases 1 ((b) (6) and 6 ((b) (6) to
ERA2 in accordance with Treasury guidelines. As such, management asserted
these are ERA2 cases and do not require immediate return of funds to Treasury.
Harris County management also stated:
The U.S. Treasury provided overlapping jurisdictions massive amounts of ERA
funding, while encouraging grantees to disburse assistance as quickly as
possible. […] It took time, however, to develop, implement, and improve upon
[proactive duplication, detection, and compliance monitoring] processes to
analyze data and identify and prevent duplication and other compliance errors.
[…] These payments were made in good faith and with no knowledge of the
duplication of benefits or errors at the time of issuance.
OIG Evaluation
We considered Harris County management’s response in finalizing this notice. We
commend the Houston-Harris ERA program for its efforts to minimize duplicate
payments. We disagree with Harris County management’s assertion that the
payments were not in violation of the use of funds statute and had been properly
recharacterized to ERA2, as discussed in detail below.
We determined cases 2, 3, 5, and 7 were duplicative of the City of Houston‘s
Federally funded rental assistance in violation of the ERA1 statute. Specifically,
15 U.S.C. 9058a(k)(3)(B) which requires that, “an eligible grantee shall ensure that

9
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
any rental assistance provided to an eligible household pursuant to funds made
available under this section is not duplicative of any other Federally funded rental
assistance provided to such household.” Harris County has not established that it
was not feasible to ensure these payments were not duplicative. Regarding case 4,
the assistance provided to the household exceeded the ERA financial assistance
limit. 9
As noted in our prior desk review report (see footnote 4), we coordinated with
Harris County and determined the duplicate payments included in this
notice (cases 2 through 5, and 7) were not eligible for ERA2 recharacterization.
Also, according to Treasury management:
By using both ERA1 and ERA2 award funds to cover assistance payments to
the same household for the same rental period, Harris County is in violation
of the ERA1 statutory requirement outlined at 15 U.S.C. 9058a(k)(3)(B).
Thus, recharacterizing the duplicative ERA1 rental assistance paid to the
household to its ERA2 award – regardless of the intent to recover the
duplicative payment – is not allowable. To resolve this noncompliance, Harris
County would need to identify different months within the allowable 18-
month assistance limitation period and the ERA1 award period of
performance for which ERA assistance or other federally funded rental
assistance had not already covered for the household to recharacterize the
ineligible payments as an eligible ERA2 expenditure. If the household already
received a cumulative total of 18 months of ERA financial assistance from
Harris County and/or other ERA grantees that was not covered by any other
federally funded rental assistance, the ineligible payments would have to be
returned out of Harris County’s own funds to the Federal government.
Methodology
We conducted our review from May 2022 to February 2026. We inquired of the
grantee and other relevant parties, reviewed related documentation, and
performed other appropriate procedures. During our review of one case, we noted
certain matters that we have referred to the OIG Office of Investigations. We
believe the evidence obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a reasonable
basis for our determination in this Notice.
In conducting our review, we followed the OIG’s system of quality management
to ensure that the information in this report is accurate. We also followed the
Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency Quality Standards for

9
P.L. 117-2 (March 11, 2021), the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 increased the monthly limit
of total ERA that a beneficiary may receive from 15 months under ERA1 to no longer than
18 months of combined ERA1 and ERA2 funding.

10
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.
Federal Offices of Inspector General which require that our work adheres to its
general standards for integrity to include objectivity, independence, professional
judgment, and confidentiality as well as its general standard for receiving and
reviewing allegations.
Distribution
Department of the Treasury
Danielle Christensen, Deputy Chief Program Officer for State & Local
Programs, Office of Capital Access
Kendra N. Young-Freeman, Director, Housing Programs, Office of Capital
Access
Michelle Dickerman, Deputy Assistant General Counsel, Office of the
General Counsel
Carolyn Appel, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the General Counsel
Blossom Butcher-Sumner, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the General
Counsel
Harris County, Texas
Sr. Manager, Budget and Performance
County Judge
Rental Assistant Program Manager

11
This Notice may contain information protected under the Privacy Act, 5 USC 552a.

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