The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, has completed its annual risk assessment of HUD’s purchase cards as required by the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012 (Public Law 112-194) and Office of Management and Budget Memorandum M-13-21.  Our objective was to identify and analyze risks of illegal, improper, or erroneous purchases and payments in HUD’s fiscal years...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York in a civil investigation of Gateway Funding Diversified Mortgage Services, LP, now known as Finance of America Mortgage, LLC (FAM).  Gateway was a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved mortgage lender.  On May...

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Special Needs Assistance Continuum of Care, regarding drug control accounting and associated management assertions for fiscal year 2018.  As required by Federal statute 21 U.S.C. 1704(d), we reviewed HUD’s Report on Drug Control Accounting, including its written assertions.  Our responsibility is to express a conclusion...

Topic briefs are a tool we use to keep officials within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) informed of challenges so that its leadership can be better prepared to address them. This topic brief expands upon two reports we issued concerning residential care facility inspections. The first was an evaluation of the Office of Residential Care Facilities (ORCF) use of Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) scores in...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern and Western Districts of Washington in the civil investigation of Universal American Mortgage Company, LLC.  Our investigation was ongoing when a qui tam action was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington. ...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) use of funds for building improvements, managed by its Office of Administration, in response to a request from the U.S. House and Senate Committees on Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies.  HUD planned to use repurposed and transferred funds from fiscal years 2015 and 2016, totaling $18.3 million,...

The purpose of this report is to consolidate and provide insight into cross-cutting management and performance challenges facing financial sector regulatory organizations as identified by members of the Council of Inspectors General on Financial Oversight (CIGFO). The Inspectors General within CIGFO report annually on the Top Management and Performance Challenges (TMPC) affecting their respective organizations.  This...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) worked with HUD’s Office of Lender Activities and Program Compliance, Office of Single Family Housing, to resolve outstanding matters related to two September 2015 agreements with Fifth Third Bank (FTB) and its principal subsidiary, Fifth Third Bancorp, an Ohio-based bank holding company.  HUD failed to properly record required...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) approval of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Housing Authority’s Moving to Work (MTW) Demonstration plan and capital funds drawdowns.  The review was performed based on risk indicators identified during audits of the Authority’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion and its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program.  The objective...

We completed a risk assessment of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) grant closeout process as required by the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency (GONE) Act of 2016, Public Law 114-117.  Our objective was to determine whether an audit or review of HUD’s grant closeout process was warranted.  We found that a moderate risk was associated with HUD’s grant closeout process and recommend that a full...

On February 28, 2018, Deloitte entered into a settlement agreement with the Federal Government, agreeing to pay $149.5 million, of which $115 million was restitution.  Deloitte settled allegations for alleged conduct in connection with its role as the independent outside auditor of TBW for TBW’s fiscal years that ended April 30, 2002, through April 30, 2008.  The settlement agreement was neither an admission of liability by...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Section 184 Indian Home Loan Guarantee program based on a Senate Appropriations Committee request to review the management and oversight of the program.  OIG had previously audited the Section 184 program in 2015 (audit report 2015-LA-0002) and determined that the Office of Loan Guarantee (OLG) did not provide adequate oversight of the program.  The...

In violation of the housing assistance payment contract’s conflict-of-interest requirements, the former executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of Beeville, TX, executed housing assistance payment contracts on behalf of the Authority with her brother and sister.  The former executive director did not fully disclose the conflicts-of-interest and had not sought a waiver from HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing...

On April 17, 2018, the Office of Program Enforcement issued a letter stating that it had reached a resolution under a Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act of 1986[1] case regarding Summit Bradford Apartments located in Tulsa, OK, following its review.  The Government alleged that the owner submitted 40 false claims under the Act.  The Office of Program Enforcement included with its letter the March 28, 2018, settlement agreement...

While performing audit work to determine whether the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Community Planning and Development (HUD CPD) monitored and ensured that grantees complied with the 24-month statutory expenditure requirement contained in the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013, we noted issues with (1) the recording of grants in the Line of Credit Control System (LOCCS) and (2) the grantees’...

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Special Needs Assistance Continuum of Care Program, regarding reporting of drug control accounting and associated management assertions for fiscal year 2017.  The objective of our attestation review was to and to provide negative assurance on HUD’s drug control accounting reporting to the Office of National Drug Control...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted HUD’s Office of General Counsel, Office of Program Enforcement, in the civil investigation of Southern Blvd I, L.P.  The owner executed a housing assistance payments contract for a 73-unit multifamily housing development named Southern Blvd I located in Bronx, NY.  The project received HUD project-based Section 8...

An independent public accountant performed audits of the Willow Run (FHA no. 092-44100) and Willow Run II (FHA no. 092-35650) multifamily properties for the years 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 under the name of The Blackwing Group, LLC.  According to the Minnesota Board of Accountancy, neither the independent public accountant nor The Blackwing Group, LLC, had ever been licensed to perform public accounting engagements in the State...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a review of a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) underwritten by MetLife Home Loans, LLC.  MetLife is an FHA-approved mortgage lender with its principal place of business located in Irving, TX. On June 9, 2017, HUD notified MetLife and the borrower’s son of their potential liability...