Michael Buonocore told employees to preserve files, emails and notes relevant to the inquiry by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General. He also said Home Forward would conduct its own internal investigation with help from its attorneys.

“It’s in our interest to conduct our own internal inquiry, as well, to demonstrate that we take this seriously,” Buonocore wrote.

Home Forward declined to release the email in response to a public records request and declined to comment. Mathews could not immediately be reached for comment.

The federal inquiry follows disclosures that Mathews used public funds for more than $100,000 in travel to events and conferences over three years. One trip took her to Hawaii in October 2024 for a conference on captive insurance, a form of self-insurance. Home Forward paid $7,269 for the trip. The agency created its own captive insurance company in 2021, saying it was intended to reduce insurance costs.

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission is separately investigating whether Mathews violated state conflict-of-interest laws. Mathews has defended her travel spending to that commission, according to prior reporting.

Home Forward’s commissioners unanimously approved a severance package worth more than $171,000 for Mathews, despite employee objections. She had earned an annual salary of $342,849 and also received employer-sponsored health coverage and a payout for accrued paid time off. The agreement made her eligible for as much as $50,000 in job-search assistance. Pittsburgh’s housing authority said in September that it was hiring Mathews as its executive director.

Records also show that Home Forward sent several officials to Hawaii over four years, spending more than $25,000 in public funds. Buonocore has said the agency will not send staff there this year.

The investigation adds to pressure on Home Forward as residents and public officials raise concerns about safety and maintenance at the agency’s low-income housing properties. Reports about conditions at the Hollywood East complex and other buildings have described drug dealing, violence, pest infestations, flood damage and infrastructure problems.

Portland City Council’s Finance and Governance Committee of the Whole is scheduled to consider two appointments to Home Forward’s nine-member board: agency resident Brian Harvey and tax attorney Thomas Kemper. Councilors have offered differing views on the board’s oversight. Councilor Olivia Clark said she believed the board should be replaced, while Councilor Candace Avalos cautioned that seeking resignations without a plan to address the agency’s problems could be counterproductive.

The federal inquiry is an investigation, not a finding of wrongdoing. Its outcome could add to the scrutiny facing an agency responsible for affordable housing and the use of public funds.