The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s oversight of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured home equity conversion mortgages (HECM) program. We initiated the audit as part of the activities in our 2008 annual audit plan. Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate oversight of the underwriting of HECM loans. This is the second of two audit reports...

We reviewed Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured home equity conversion mortgages (HECM) loans originated by First Call Mortgage Company and sponsored by James B. Nutter & Company (J.B.Nutter) during the period of January 2007 to December 2008. We reviewed these loans because in September 2008 state banking regulators from New Hampshire and Massachusetts found that First Call used deceptive business practices and did not have the...

We conducted a capacity review of the operations of the City of Brockton’s (City) grantee, Building a Better Brockton, Inc. (recipient), which has responsibility for administering the City’s NSP. Our objective was to determine whether the City and/or its recipient had the capacity to effectively and efficiently administer its NSP under the provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and the American Recovery and...

We audited the Municipality of Rio Grande’s (Municipality) Community Development Block Grant (Block Grant) program. We selected the Municipality for review as part of our strategic plan. The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Municipality complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations, procedures, and instructions related to the administration of the Block Grant program and whether the...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s process for reviewing and approving commercial rents for multifamily properties. Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s review and approval process for commercial rents ensured that multifamily properties received commercial rents that were comparable to market rate rents. HUD did not have a uniform process to ensure that commercial rent...

Adams County, Colorado will receive more than $1.3 million in Recovery Act funding to carry out its Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program and to provide additional funding to its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. HUD's Office of Inspector General (OIG) evaluated the County's capacity to administer its Recovery Act funds. The OIG found weaknesses that could significantly affect the County’s capacity to...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed the front-end risk assessment (assessment) for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). Our objective was to determine whether the assessment complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) updated guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), as well as HUD’s streamlined assessment process. Our...

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General evaluated the front-end risk assessment for the Community Development Block Grant Recovery (CDBG-R) grant. Our objective was to determine whether the assessment complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) updated guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), as well as HUD’s streamlined assessment...

We performed an audit of the City of Boston’s (City) Department of Neighborhood Development (Department). We selected the City based upon the results of our previous audit of the City’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and the significance of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds awarded. Our objective was to determine whether the City had the capacity to effectively and efficiently administer its NSP under the provisions...

We audited the City of Altoona, Pennsylvania’s (City) capacity to administer funds it receives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The City will receive $1.3 million in Recovery Act funds to carry out Community Development Block Grant and Homelessness Prevention Rapid Re-Housing activities. Our objective was to determine whether the City had adequate capacity and controls to adequately administer its Recovery...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Adams County, Colorado’s Community Development Block Grant (Block Grant) program to determine whether Adams County’s Community and Economic Opportunity Department (Department) had adequate controls over the administration of its Block Grant funds. The Department did not have adequate controls over its Block Grant funds. Specifically, it did not (1)...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector reviewed Cook County’s (County) Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The review was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan. We selected the County based upon the results of our three previous audits of the County’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME). Our objective was to determine whether the County had the capacity to effectively...

We audited the State of Washington’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The audit was part of our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan. We selected the State because it was responsible for the distribution of funds to the entitlement areas, as well as to nonentitlement areas for the state of Washington. Our objective was to determine whether the State’s Program implementation was compliant with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed the front-end risk assessment (assessment) of the Green Retrofit Program (program) for Multifamily Housing for HUD. Our objective was to determine whether the assessment complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act); the Recovery Act’s Updated Implementing...

We audited FHA-insured loan processes at two DHI Mortgage Company, LTD (DHI Mortgage) branches in Tucson and Scottsdale, Arizona, to determine whether DHI Mortgage originated, approved, and closed FHA-insured single-family loans in accordance with HUD requirements. We chose DHI Mortgage because the Scottsdale, Arizona, branch had a default rate that was double the default rate for FHA-insured loans for the state of Arizona, and then expanded...

We completed a capacity review of the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission’s (County) Neighborhood Stabilization Program. We performed the audit because Housing and Economic Recovery Act reviews were part of the Office of the Inspector General’s annual audit plan and the program was identified as high risk. In addition, the County was awarded significant Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds of $16.8 million. Our objective...

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 regulations....

We initiated a review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring of the performance-based contract administration contract administrators (PBCA) because of our prior audits that reported that HUD paid contract administrators $27.2 million during fiscal year 2006 for work HUD had eliminated and that the Los Angeles multifamily hub did not properly monitor its contractor. Our audit objective was to determine...

The City of Fort Worth (City) is scheduled to receive $10.85 million in Recovery Act funding. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a memorandum on the City’s capacity to administer these funds. We reported the City had a history of failing to meet regulatory requirements in an efficient or timely manner. The City needs to strengthen its capacity to adequately administer recovery...