The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) development of requirements documents is a collaboration across HUD program offices.  The Office of the Chief Procurement Officer (OCPO) is responsible for obtaining all goods and services required by HUD efficiently and in the most cost-effective manner possible, while program offices are responsible for preparing the requirements documents and submitting an actionable...

We performed an audit of Carrington Mortgage’s compliance with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements for foreclosures that started in 2022. Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), as extended by the Secretary, from March 18, 2020, through July 31, 2021, there was a pause on new and ongoing foreclosures for FHA single‐family mortgages for homes that remained occupied. We selected...

We performed an audit of MidFirst’s compliance with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) requirements for foreclosures that started in 2022.  Pursuant to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), as extended by the Secretary, from March 18, 2020, through July 31, 2021, there was a pause on new and ongoing foreclosures for FHA single‐family mortgages for homes that remained occupied. We selected MidFirst...

We audited the Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority’s (PRHFA) Homebuyer Assistance Program (HBA), which provides eligible applicants with closing costs and downpayment assistance for the purchase of a primary residence.  The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) provided its grantee, the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (PRDOH), $495 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds for HBA...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of requirements documentation in HUD’s acquisition process. Our objective is to assess HUD’s processes for developing and approving requirements documents in the pre-award phase of the acquisition life cycle.

We performed an audit of loan servicers’ compliance with the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) requirements for providing loss mitigation assistance to borrowers after their COVID-19 forbearance ended.  We initiated the audit based on the large number of borrowers exiting forbearance, because the loss mitigation programs available to these borrowers were new and created a risk for both borrowers and the FHA insurance fund...

We audited Nationstar Mortgage, LLC’s (doing business as Mr. Cooper (Nationstar)) compliance with the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) requirements for providing loss mitigation assistance to borrowers after their COVID-19 forbearance ended. We concurrently conducted a nationwide audit of servicers’ compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) COVID-19 loss mitigation requirements (HUD Office of...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of the Chief Procurement Officer’s use of its quality assurance surveillance plan (QASP) for its Atlanta Homeownership Center field service management (FSM) housing contracts.  We initiated the audit to support HUD’s priority on increasing efficiency in procurement.  An assessment of HUD’s use of its QASP, as part of its 3.10 FSM 5-year contract...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) efforts to proactively communicate information related to the coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) to homeowners with Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages.  We initiated this work based on a U.S. Government Accountability Office report that identified helping borrowers understand the protections available to them as a key challenge and...

We completed a corrective action verification (CAV) of recommendations from prior Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit reports on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) government purchase cards and government travel cards, both issued January 31, 2020. During our CAV, we followed up on all 10 recommendations from OIG audit report 2020-KC-0001 and all 13 recommendations from OIG audit report 2020-KC-0002. Our...

HUD OIG is conducting a review of a nationwide mortgage servicing company that provides servicing and origination for FHA loans. In the summer of 2021, FHA introduced new recovery loss mitigation options for borrowers exiting forbearance, which will provide a path to deep and sustained recovery for borrowers who were significantly impacted by the pandemic by reinstating their loans from a delinquent to current status. Our objective is...

HUD OIG is conducting an audit of COVID-19 loss mitigation. In the summer of 2021, FHA introduced new recovery loss mitigation options for borrowers exiting forbearance, which will provide a path to deep and sustained recovery for borrowers who were significantly impacted by the pandemic by reinstating their loans from a delinquent to current status. Our audit objective is to determine if delinquent borrowers of FHA-insured loans...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), completed an audit to determine whether FHA-insured borrowers properly received the COVID-19-related forbearance.  The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), signed into law on March 27, 2020, provided a mortgage payment forbearance option for all borrowers who suffered a financial hardship due to the COVID-19...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) ability to effectively complete information technology (IT) acquisitions.  HUD’s IT systems and its modernization plans depend heavily on contractors, yet HUD has historically faced significant challenges with implementing effective acquisition processes. Therefore, HUD’s acquisition capacity represents a key potential risk within HUD’s IT environment. We...

HUD OIG is conducting a Corrective Action Verification on two prior HUD OIG audits of HUD's Purchase Card and Travel Card programs.  The review will verify if the corrective actions taken by the Department on the recommendations issued under reports, 2020-KC-0001 Purchase Card Audit and 2020-KC-0002 Travel Card Audit, addressed the underlying issues and risks.

HUD OIG is auditing HUD’s contract administration quality assurance processes over its management & marketing contracts.  HUD awarded seven firm-fixed price contracts totaling $8.98 billion to five different vendors.  The audit objective is to determine whether HUD effectively administered quality assurance surveillance plans for management & marketing contracts to assist in meeting HUD’s mission.

HUD OIG is auditing HUD's Office of Single-Family Housing - Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program partly in response to media reports which have highlighted instances when lenders did not properly administer the COVID-19 forbearance options.  The audit objective is to determine whether FHA insured borrowers properly received the CARES Act forbearance options.

To determine if HUD has processes in place to efficiently and effectively conduct information technology (IT) acquisitions.

HUD OIG is auditing HUD's COVID-19 procurement activities. Due to the pandemic, regular contracting requirements were revised to help meet the needs of contractors who did not have access to the Federal work sites or could not complete contracts in a timely manner due to quarantining, social distancing, or other COVID-19 related interruptions.  The audit objective is to determine what HUD has done to accommodate contractors'...

HUD OIG is  researching prior audits of HUD’s partial claims loss mitigation option.  On July 8, 2020, FHA issued Mortgagee Letter 2020-22 informing mortgagees the full suite of loss mitigations available to single family borrowers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The purpose of this research is to provide HUD information regarding lessons learned and risks identified in these prior audits that HUD should act on now...