We completed an audit of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Asset Control Area (ACA) program as a follow-up to a previous OIG audit of this program, and as a part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) strategic plan goals to improve HUD’s fiscal accountability. The objective of the audit was to determine whether HUD administered the ACA program in compliance with ACA program requirements and federal...

We completed an inspection to determine whether recipients of rental assistance payments under HUD’s Community Planning and Development (CPD) Programs also received rental subsidies under HUD’s Section 8 Housing Programs.  CPD funding for rental assistance to eligible individuals is provided through five separate grant programs—Shelter Plus Care, Supportive Housing Program, Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids, Section 8...

We performed an inspection to determine whether HUD had appropriately recaptured unspent funds awarded from the more than $5.3 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding appropriated before 2005.  According to HUD data, as of August 2008, grant awards totaling $4.7 billion had no unspent funds; 121 grant awards had unspent funds, of which HUD recaptured or deobligated more than $17.5 million. Our...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD's Office of Affordable Housing Programs’ (Office) oversight of HOME Investment Partnerships Program (Program) income (including recaptured Program funds). The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan to contribute to improving HUD’s execution and accountability of its fiscal responsibilities and...

For the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) front-end risk assessment (FERA) for the new Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing program (HPRP), we wanted to determine whether the FERA complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act); the Recovery Act’s streamlined FERA process; and HUD Handbook 1840.1, REV-3, Departmental...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited HUD's requirement prohibiting lifetime registered sex offenders from admission to HUD-subsidized housing. Our audit objective was to determine the extent to which HUD-subsidized housing was occupied by lifetime registered sex offenders. HUD subsidized an estimated 2,094 to 3,046 households that included lifetime registered sex...

We performed a review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing agencies’ unrestricted and restricted Section 8 administrative fee reserves. We initiated this review because in our audits of two housing authorities, neither agency was able to clearly account for its administrative fee reserve funds and demonstrate that they were used appropriately. Our objective was to determine...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program grantees under the jurisdiction of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, Community Planning and Development (CPD) field offices as part of our annual audit plan. The audit objective was to determine whether those offices adequately monitored their CDBG program grantees to ensure...

As part of the our plan to review the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (program), we reviewed whether the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting system (DRGR) can collect program data at the level of detail necessary to adequately monitor the program. We limited the review to the program established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. However, HUD will also use DRGR...

We completed a corrective action verification of HUD’s actions in implementing portions of Audit Memorandum 98-AO-219-1804, issued September 24, 1998; Upfront Grant for Ridgecrest Heights Apartments, CEMI-Ridgecrest, Inc., Washington, DC. The specific objective of this corrective action verification review was to determine if HUD ensured the repayment of excess proceeds from the sale of townhomes located at Ridgecrest Heights...

We completed an evaluation of HUD’s management of its Workers’ Compensation Program (WCP).  Our primary objectives were to determine whether HUD’s contractor, Lifecare Management Partners (Lifecare) of Alexandria, VA, managed the program in accordance with its contract terms and identify opportunities to improve program policy and procedures.  We also wanted to determine the level of program noncompliance and potential fraud...

At the request of the Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), we performed a limited review of a random sample of 112 March and April 2009 Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP) payments for Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita evacuees. The objective was to verify whether the authorized tenants lived in the residences in March and April 2009. Testing identified 20 instances of potentially ineligible payments totaling $9,478 and...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD's management of human resources. We initiated the audit based on our annual audit plan and our strategic plan to help HUD resolve its major management challenges. Our objective was to determine whether HUD implemented a process and methodology to determine when to contract out for services or when to keep the services in house...

In response to a request from Senator Charles Grassley, Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Finance, we conducted an evaluation of Mortgagee Review Board (MRB/Board) enforcement actions as part of HUD's oversight of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single-family mortgage lenders. Senator Grassley asked us to update a review of the MRB by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in its 2004 report on FHA risk management. The...

We completed a review of Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) Mortgage-Backed Securities (MBS) program's contract documents and other program related representations. Additionally, we reviewed certain business practices related to ensuring that mortgages were insured. We conducted the audit because of OIG senior management's concerns about potential internal control weaknesses in Ginnie Mae's MBS program...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Administration's internal controls over the processing of personnel actions in response to an anonymous complaint received by our office. Our objectives were to determine why (1) human resource actions were not processed in a timely manner, (2) employee requests to waive the automatic collection of payroll overpayments were not processed before...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Native American Program’s (ONAP) rules regarding calculation of program income under the Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA). Our objectives were to determine whether ONAP’s guidance on calculating program income for the NAHASDA-assisted 1937 Act housing projects was consistent with the generally accepted accounting principles. We...

At the request of two United States Senators, we initiated an audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) administration of the Housing Authority of New Orleans (Authority). Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD's receiver provided adequate management oversight to ensure the Authority complied with HUD's requirements. Specifically, to determine whether HUD's receiver ensured that...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) processing of its Section 202 and Section 811 capital advances as a part of our annual audit plan. The audit objective was to determine whether HUD's program centers under the jurisdiction of its Region 3 (program centers) processed Section 202 and Section 811 capital advances in accordance with HUD requirements. Program centers did not always process...

We performed a review of HUD's recent invitation to submit applications (invitation) for performance-based contract administrator services for Southern California to be effective June 1, 2009, and its related annual contributions contract (contract) due to a complaint and concerns that this activity may have been inconsistent with agreed-upon management decisions on Audit Report 2007-SE-0001. The purpose of this review was to...