**

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF
HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL

**

OFFICE of
INSPECTO R GENERAL

AUG 3 0 2016

Ethan Barton
Daily Caller News Foundation
1050 17th Street, NW, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20036
RE:

Your Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request
FOIA Control No.: 16-IGF-OIG-00123

Dear Mr. Barton:
This is a second interim response to your e-mail Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
request dated July 21 , 2016, to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD),
Office of Inspector General (OIG). The OIG is working diligently on your request for "access to
and copies of any and all OJG documents and reports produced regarding approximately 1,
3000 felony fugitives residing in public and section 8 housing assistance throughout Region 10
in 2012." We intend to respond to your request directly and will also post responsive documents
in our FOIA reading room. However, we have run into some difficulties.
In your request, you made reference to a "Systemic Implications Report dated
F ebruary 13, 2012, notes a Seattle HUD OIG investigation that matched approximately 1,300

individual fugitives that were receiving public and section 8 housing assistance throughout
Region 1 O."
Based on an earlier release of SIRs from 2012, we learned that we need to vet the
information to make sure it is accurate. It also turned out that some of the SIRs were drafts and
never forwarded for implementation. This has caused us to change our review process, adding
some additional time.
Also, August has proven to be a trying month. The FOIA Office was required to relocate
to another building and this disrupted operations from August 8 through August 22. This delay
was in addition to any delay due to the regular processing of your request. Finally, the agency
also decided to refresh its computers for the office the week of August 22 through 25, adding

Office of Legal Counsel
451 7'h Street SW, Room 8260, Washington, DC 20410
Phone (202) 708-1613 , Fax (202) 401-3778
Visit the Office of Insp ector General Website at www.hudoig.gov

 Ethan Barton, Reporter
FOIA Control No.: 16-IGF-OIG-00123

2

additional disruptions to our operations. We apologize for our delay, but we hope to be fully
functional again soon and will process your request as soon as we can.
We remind you, certain information from the reports may be privileged or exempt from
disclosure and that will be addressed in a forthcoming letter. These reports will be reviewed in
their entirety before access is provided to you. Please note that certain names and/or identifiable
information will be redacted from the reports for privacy reasons and will be addressed in a
forthcoming letter.

If you have any questions or wish to discuss reformulation or an alternative time frame for
processing of your request, you may contact the OIG FOIA Office at (202) 708-1613. Please
reference the above FOIA number when making inquiries about this matter.
Sincerely,

e

ey
formation Specialist (FOIA/P A)