We initiated an audit of the City of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Office of Community Development's (City) award and use of HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) program set-aside funds as part of our annual audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether the City ensured that Contemporary Apartments, Inc. (Contemporary Apartments), met community development housing organization (CHDO) qualification requirements and whether the...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the City of East Cleveland's (City) use of HOME Investment Partnerships (HOME) and Community Development Block Grant (Block Grant) program funds. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2008 annual audit plan. We selected the City based upon our analysis of risk factors relating to HOME grantees in Region V's...

Due to a citizen's complaint, we audited the State of Louisiana's (State) Road Home homeowner assistance program managed by the State's contractor, ICF Emergency Management Services, LLC. The complaint raised a potential issue with Road Home employees improperly obtaining grants. During our audit on employee eligibility for additional compensation grants, we identified possible program eligibility issues through a review...

Due to a citizen's complaint, we audited the State of Louisiana's (State) Road Home homeowner assistance program managed by the State's contractor, ICF Emergency Management Services, LLC. The complaint raised a potential issue with Road Home employees improperly obtaining grants. During our audit on employee eligibility for additional compensation grants, we identified possible program eligibility issues through a review...

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 reviewed lenders in the State of Connecticut that had Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans with secondary financing from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority as part of our annual audit plan. The objective was to determine whether the lenders inappropriately gave borrowers using secondary financing from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority cash back at closing in excess of their total cash deposit and other closing...

The Authority's program administration regarding housing assistance payment calculations and zero-income households was inadequate. The Authority did not effectively manage its housing assistance calculation and payment process in accordance with HUD requirements, resulting in nearly $57,000 in overpayment, more than $21,000 in unsupported payments and nearly $22,000 in underpayment for the period January 1, 2007, through August...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited SecurityNational Mortgage Company (SecurityNational), a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender, to determine whether it properly underwrote insured loans and whether its quality control function met requirements. SecurityNational did not follow HUD regulations when underwriting 18 FHA-insured loans....

We completed a financial review of the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles' (Authority) Section 8 program. We initiated the review in response to several citizen complaints alleging mismanagement, waste, and abuse of U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 8 funding, including the use of Section 8 funds to pay the costs of non-Section 8 programs. Our objective was to determine the validity of the...

We audited the Jonesboro Housing Authority's (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General's (OIG) annual audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority's Section 8 housing choice voucher units met HUD standards. The Authority's Section 8 units generally met housing quality standards. Our...

At the request of the Region X Multifamily Hub, we audited the John C Cannon Retirement and Assisted Living Residence (project) to determine if the project owner used project funds in accordance with the regulatory agreement. We found that the project owner failed to get HUD approval for leases costing $189,000, used project funds to obtain unneeded equipment costing $10,700, and failed to keep adequate documentation to support...

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 Housing Choice Voucher program (Voucher program) at the Quincy Housing Authority (Authority) as part of our annual audit plan. Our efforts focused on whether the Authority (1) ensured that its Section 8 administrative plan met the requirements of 24 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 982.54, (2) adequately accounted for its indirect cost charges, (3) used Voucher program funds only for the administration of the program...

We initiated this audit as part of our annual audit plan to determine whether the State of Connecticut Department of Social Services (agency) properly administered its Housing Choice Voucher program (Voucher program) in compliance with its annual contributions contracts and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations. Our objectives focused on whether tenant eligibility, rent determinations, and annual...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee's (Authority) 5(h) and Section 32 homeownership programs (programs). We selected the Authority based on a risk analysis showing that it had high-risk program indicators. Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority properly accounted for and used its programs' proceeds...

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) to determine the effect of HUD's receivership on the Authority's performance. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether HUD had taken action to improve the Authority's post-Hurricane Katrina performance while under...

HUD OIG performed an audit of the City of Augusta's HOME Investment Partnerships program as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's annual audit plan. The purpose of the audit was to determine whether the City complied with HOME program requirements for monitoring (1) HOME community housing development organizations and subrecipients and (2) the use of CHDOs' proceeds. This is the second of two...

We audited the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program administered by the City of Durham, North Carolina (City). The objective of the audit was to determine whether the City administered its program in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We selected the City for review based on HUD's risk assessment and previous monitoring reviews. The City did not administer its CDBG...

We audited Stonebrook Apartments Phase I and Phase II (projects) to determine whether the projects' owners complied with the regulatory agreements and U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether the owners (1) made unauthorized distributions of project funds when the projects were in a non-surplus-cash position, (2) fully funded the tenant security deposit...