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...

As of January 2024, 85 percent of HUD employees had approved telework agreements, and 9 percent had approved remote work agreements.  HUD estimated that 31 percent of remote employees were remote as a reasonable accommodation.  Most of HUD’s remote workers served in a limited number of occupations.  We evaluated the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer’s (OCHCO) controls over the quality of data related to...

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 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) and the Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity (ODEEO) both have responsibilities related to increasing the percentage of employees who identify as Hispanic or Latino.  HUD provides an Annual Equal Employment Opportunity Program Status Report, also known as the Annual Management Directive 715 Report (MD-715...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of the timeliness of the Office of Departmental Equal Employment Opportunity's (ODEEO) equal employment opportunity (EEO) complaint-handling process between fiscal years (FY) 2017 and 2023. The evaluation will focus on ODEEO’s EEO investigations and final agency decisions from FY 2017-2023. The objectives for this evaluation are (1) to determine factors affecting the timeliness of...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of HUD’s utilization and oversight of its remote work and telework programs during the period April 25, 2022, to January 13, 2024. Our objectives are to assess: (1) HUD employees’ utilization of remote work and telework programs; (2) HUD’s administration of locality payments to its remote workers and teleworkers; and (3) HUD’s support and training of supervisors overseeing employee...

Retention is a shared responsibility between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) and HUD’s other program offices.  OCHCO sets the departmentwide retention strategy, while the program offices have responsibility for managing retention within their offices.  Our evaluation determined that HUD’s departmentwide retention strategy in fiscal years (FY) 2019-...

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...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of HUD’s recruitment efforts to address underrepresentation of employees who identify as Hispanic or Latino. Our objectives are to (1) determine the status of HUD’s recruitment plans to address the underrepresentation of employees who identify as Hispanic or Latino and (2) identify how HUD tracks the effectiveness of its recruitment actions to increase representation of employees who...

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...

The Office of Evaluation is initiating an evaluation of HUD’s employee retention. Our objectives are to: 1. To determine whether HUD has a high voluntary separation rate relative to similar agencies, and which program offices or demographic groups, if any, have high rates relative to HUD’s overall rate or to equivalent groups in similar agencies. 2. To determine what retention-relevant programs HUD employs and the extent to which...

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...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) transitioning of offices from mandatory to maximum telework during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, based on a request from Representative Gerald Connolly, to review whether HUD was employing best practices and existing guidance when deciding whether or when to require Federal employees to return to their offices.  Transitioning an office to...

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...

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.

HUD OIG is reviewing HUD's plans to reopen its offices to its employees. This work is in response to a Congressional request. The review objective is to determine whether HUD is following (1) its Resuming Normal Operations Guide, COVID-19 Response, Headquarters and Field Offices; (2) Federal, State, and local government and appropriate non-governmental guidance; and (3) best practices in reopening its offices to employees.

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...