Following a delay of 18 months – which is actually consistent with processing times during the Obama Administration — the Department of Housing and Urban Development has provided an initial response to MHARR’s September 25, 2012 Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, filed through its law firm, Mayer-Brown, focusing primarily (but not exclusively) on HUD’s unilateral expansion of in-plant inspections.

 

The documents produced by HUD number well over one thousand pages.  MHARR staff will now thoroughly review these documents to assess:

 

(1) the adequacy  (i.e., completeness) of HUD’s response to MHARR’s request;

 

(2) the responsiveness of the produced documents to MHARR’s comprehensive request;

 

(3) the documents’ potential significance to the regulatory issues underlying MHARR’s request; and

 

(4) any evidence linking the documents produced to other potentially relevant and significant documents for possible follow-up, if necessary.

 

Once the above review and analysis by MHARR staff has been completed, MHARR will prepare a report of its findings for the Association’s Executive Committee, for review and any further consideration. 

 

In addition to the documents already produced, MHARR is still waiting for a final and official response letter from HUD — as required by the FOIA statute — indicating which documents are being withheld by the Department under claimed FOIA exemptions.  Based on informal feedback from HUD,MHARR expects to receive that final response letter within the next several weeks.  MHARR staff will also review and analyze that final response letter and any such exemption claims to assess their validity and the need for follow-up, if necessary.