The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) administers billions in presidentially declared disaster recovery grants through its Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program.  We audited five non-State grantees to assess whether they are on track to spend their remaining grant funds on eligible activities that benefit program participants within a reasonable amount of time.  We also wanted to...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) is auditing the use of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds as non-Federal match for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA)Public Assistance Program.  Our objectives are to determine whether four CDBG-DR grantees made improper payments and whether the Office of Community Planning and...

We audited the project activity status for 12 grantees that received funds under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) National Disaster Resilience (NDR) grant to determine whether the grantees have accomplished or are on track to accomplish the goals of the activities outlined in their action plans. We found that NDR grantees should be able to accomplish their...

We audited HUD and its grantees’ monitoring of subrecipients and contractors in HUD’s Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG-CV) program to assess subrecipient monitoring in the program.  ESG and ESG-CV grantees often rely on subrecipients and contractors to carry out ESG-CV-funded activities on behalf of the grantees, and are required to monitor subrecipients to ensure that the...

We audited the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Budget and Fiscal Services’ and Department of Community Services’ (City) fraud risk management practices for its Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG CARES Act) program with the objective of assessing the maturity of the City’s fraud risk management framework that encompasses control activities to prevent, detect, and respond to...

We audited the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) with the objective of evaluating HCD’s fraud risk management practices for its Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG CARES Act) program and assessing the maturity of its efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud.  Fraudulent activity in the ESG CARES Act program can lead to significant financial...

Servicers followed the COVID-19 pandemic foreclosure moratorium requirements.  However, they could have better communicated the moratorium requirements to delinquent borrowers who were subject to foreclosure proceedings.  This situation occurred because HUD did not require servicers to notify borrowers directly about the foreclosure moratorium and that occupancy would pause the foreclosure process.  Borrowers who were...

In January 2017, HUD awarded the City $141.2 million in Community Development Block Grant National Disaster Resilience grant funding for disaster resilience. HUD designed the grant to give states flexibility in planning program activities and help state and local communities recover from past disasters, while also improving their infrastructure to withstand future extreme events through strategic community investments.  The City...

From 2001 to 2022, the Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery program provided almost $98 billion to states, cities, counties, and territories to help them recover from disasters.  Administering disaster recovery has been a recurring U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) top management challenge since 2018.  Therefore, we audited the disaster recovery program to determine whether the Office of...

We audited the Puerto Rico Department of Housing’s (PRDOH) fraud risk management practices to assess the maturity of its antifraud efforts.  HUD heavily relies on its grantees to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse and PRDOH is HUD’s second largest Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (CDBG-DR and CDBG-MIT) grantee with over $20 billion in block grant funding.  Our objective was to assess...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Native American Programs’ (ONAP) coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) recovery programs.  We performed this audit to provide HUD with insight and a nationwide perspective on the challenges that grantees experienced with those programs.  Our audit objectives were to identify 1) the information, guidance, and training HUD provided to the grantees...

We performed an audit related to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Disaster Recovery Data Portal.  The Disaster Recovery Data Portal is a technological solution planned by HUD to facilitate the rapid and secure transmission of data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to HUD’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery grantees.  We performed the work because HUD needs a...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Native American Programs’ (ONAP) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act to identify drawdown levels for its block grant programs and assessed information ONAP made publicly available. As of October 4, 2022, grantees had drawn $231.6 million of the $300 million in CARES Act block grant funds and $135.8...

In coordination with the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, we conducted an audit to identify potential fraud schemes that could affect HUD’s pandemic funds.  We reviewed the funds appropriated by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act for the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA), Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), HOME Investment Partnerships, and...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act program.Our audit objective was to determine what challenges grantees faced in using program funds for activities that prepare for, prevent, or respond to the coronavirus and its impact.  We used a survey questionnaire to gather feedback and insight directly from 1,047...

HUD OIG is one of 10 OIGs participating in this PRAC-led COVID 19 Pandemic Impact Project. The OIGs will conduct the review and provide the results to the PRAC for the final consolidated work products.  The objective is to identify the federal pandemic response program funds provided to select geographic areas and the purpose of those funds, and to determine whether the federal program spending aligned with the intended goals and...

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act made available $5 billion in supplemental CDBG funding for grants to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus pandemic (CDBG-CV grants).  Because of similarities, we reviewed 132 CDBG-DR program audits and evaluations issued from May 2002 to March 2020 to summarize the common CDBG-DR program weaknesses and risks for CPD to consider to...

HUD OIG is auditing HUD’s disaster preparedness from 2005 to 2018.  We performed this audit due to an agreement with six other Inspectors General as part of a Disaster Assistance Working Group-Cross Cutting Functional Effort by the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to determine to what extent the Federal departments were prepared for upcoming natural disasters.  Our specific audit objective was to...

"HUD OIG performed the seventh of the ongoing audits of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC’s) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant (Block Grant) Disaster Recovery Assistance funds provided to the State of New York following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  HUD OIG’s audit objectives were to determine whether the LMDC (1)...

HUD OIG audited the 2004 Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery funds provided to the State of Florida (State). We selected this grant for review based on risk factors associated with fraud, waste and abuse.  HUD OIG's audit objectives were to determine whether the State (1) awarded and disbursed disaster recovery funds in accordance with HUD requirements and (2) implemented adequate procedures for monitoring the...