We audited DeKalb County’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program because it received more than $8 million in HOME funding since 2008. Our objective was to determine whether the County accurately entered commitments and project completion data into HUD’s Integrated Disbursement and Information System.

The County did not require that the signatures of all parties who signed written agreements be dated to support whether the commitments were made within the 24-month statutory deadline. This occurred because the County did not have procedures to ensure that the signatures on the written agreements were dated. The County provided supplemental documentation, which HUD agreed to accept as support that six of the seven activities reviewed were committed by the deadline date. We identified one activity in which the County incorrectly entered a $230,000 commitment into the information system before its deadline date, although the funds were committed after the deadline. The incorrect commitment entry is not subject to recovery by HUD because it did not generate a commitment shortfall. However, the signatures that were not dated and the incorrect commitment entry could undermine the integrity of the information system and jeopardize the accuracy and support of reports that HUD generates from the system to monitor the County’s compliance with the 24-month statutory commitment requirement and compile national program statistics.

We recommend that the Director of HUD’s Atlanta Office of Community Planning and Development require the County to develop and implement controls to ensure that all signatures on future HOME agreements are dated to support the commitment of funds entered into HUD’s information system. We also recommend that the Director require the County to develop and implement controls to ensure that commitments are not entered into the information system before the execution of written agreements.