IG: OFHEO Met 60% GSE Oversight Mandate

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight committed more than 60% of its budget to the supervision of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in fiscal year 2004, according to an audit by the HUD inspector general.However, neither OFHEO nor the Department of Housing and Urban Development "can be certain whether OFHEO has significantly exceeded the 60% requirement," the HUD IG says in a report requested by Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo. Sen. Bond, who chairs the HUD appropriations subcommittee, inserted the 60% requirement in OFHEO's budget last year. This year, the Senate appropriation bill requires OFHEO to spend 80% of its budget on supervisory activities. OFHEO Director Armando Falcon Jr. said he is "pleased" with the IG findings. The director estimated that 84% of OFHEO's funding paid for supervisory activities in fiscal year 2004.