To Be Good Financial Stewards, FHFA Inspector General’s Budget Will Match the Budgets of Peer Agencies

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Federal Housing (FHFA) announced today that it is allocating a "Peer-Matched" budget for the FHFA Office of Inspector General to ensure the budget is efficient and right-sized.

Following FHFA's recent adoption of zero-based budgeting, in which every expenditure is independently benchmarked and justified, the Agency became aware that FHFA's OIG was an extraordinary budgetary outlier among its peer OIGs.

FHFA Office of Inspector General's original request was nearly NINE TIMES higher than the average OIG budget across the entire federal government.

While the average Inspector General budget allocation is approximately 2% of its agency's operating budget, the FHFA OIG requested 16%. FHFA cannot justify such a discrepancy to the American people.

On staffing levels, the FHFA OIG's employee head count represents 18% of FHFA's total workforce, roughly FIVE TIMES the size of the average IG-Agency staffing allocation of 4%. This OIG proportion is unmatched anywhere in the federal oversight community.

As stewards of federally authorized resources, FHFA must ensure that all expenditures reflect fiscal prudence while fully meeting its statutory obligations. FHFA's decision reflects its responsibility to ensure that every dollar is used responsibly, efficiently, and for a clearly documented purpose.

FHFA fully supports the independence and mission of the Office of Inspector General. FHFA will continue to work in good faith with FHFA OIG to ensure all funds are appropriately justified.

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks. These government-sponsored enterprises provide more than $8.7 trillion in funding for the U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions. Additional information is available at www.FHFA.gov, on X @FHFA, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Contacts: MediaInq​[email protected]