We audited the City of Worcester’s administration of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.  We selected the City for review based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Boston, MA, Office of Community Planning and Development.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the City established adequate controls to ensure that the CDBG activities were eligible and supported...

We completed an audit of the Lawrence Housing Authority, Lawrence, MA, (Authority) pertaining to its administration of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs. The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Authority had acceptable management and financial practices to efficiently and effectively administer the use of Section 8 and public housing program funds in compliance with its annual contributions...

HUD OIG performed an audit of the State of Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) in Montgomery, AL, to assess issues raised in a hotline complaint. The complaint alleged that the State of Alabama misused its NSP1 funds by not following the regulations and statutes governing the NSP1 program to ensure that it used program funds for eligible and supported purposes. The State was awarded a...

We audited the Housing Choice Voucher and Federal public housing programs at the Medford Housing Authority due to a complaint received by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Our overall audit objective was to determine whether the Authority had acceptable management practices to efficiently and effectively administer its housing programs while providing decent, safe, and sanitary housing in compliance HUD requirements and...

HUD OIG performed an audit of the State of Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program in Montgomery, Alabama. The audit was part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan to review grant activities funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). We selected the grantee because...

We audited the Housing Choice Voucher program at the Fall River Housing Authority as part of our annual audit plan. The overall objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority efficiently and effectively administered its Voucher program in compliance with its annual contributions contracts and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations. Our specific subobjectives were to determine whether (1) the Authority...

We reviewed the administration expenses charged to the City of Brockton’s Community Development Block Grant in response to a complaint alleging that the City was charging the Community Development Block Grant program for City expenses. The objectives of our review were to determine whether the City (1) properly accounted for and reported its planning and administrative expenses for its Community Development Block Grant and (2) prepared accurate...

We audited the Housing Choice Voucher program and Federal public housing programs at the Weymouth Housing Authority as part of our annual audit plan. The overall objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority had acceptable management practices to efficiently and effectively administer its Housing Choice Voucher program while providing decent, safe, and sanitary housing in compliance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban...

We audited the monitoring conducted by the Office of Public Housing (PIH), in Region 1 of their Recovery Act Capital Fund Grantees, for compliance with the Recovery Act and applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations, policies and procedures. Our objective was to determine whether PIH in Region 1 (1) monitored Recovery Act grantees identified by the risk assessment process HUD established and implemented for...

We reviewed The Community Builders, a nonprofit development and asset management firm that received a $78.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress established the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 to grant funds to States, local governments, nonprofits, and a consortium of nonprofit entities for the purpose of stabilizing communities...

We audited the New Bedford Housing Authority’s (Authority) $9.9 million of the Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus Formula and Competitive Grants (Recovery Act Funded). Our objective was to determine whether the Authority obligated and disbursed capital funds received under the Recovery Act according to the requirements of the act and applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules and regulations. The Authority...

We audited the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA), a Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-approved organization providing housing counseling services to qualified home buyers or homeowners with unaffordable mortgage payments. The audit was initiated at the direction of HUD's Inspector General. Our audit objective was to determine whether NACA properly administered its HUD grants used for housing counseling...

We audited the Housing Choice Voucher program (Voucher program) at the Brockton Housing Authority (Authority) as part of our annual audit plan. Theoverall objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority efficientlyand effectively administered its Voucher program in compliance with its annual contributions contracts and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations. Our efforts focused on whether the Authority (...

We audited the Cambridge Housing Authority (Authority) because it obligated a majority of its $4.4 million Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus (Formula) Recovery Act Funded grant (grant) received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 just before the required obligation deadline. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority obligated and disbursed capital funds received under the Recovery Act according to the...

We audited the State of Alabama, Department of Economic and Community Affairs' (State), Hurricane Katrina Community Development Block Grant Disaster Funds program (program), administered by the State's subrecipient, the City of Bayou La Batre (Bayou La Batre). Our objective was to determine whether the State and Bayou La Batre administered the program in accordance with the requirements of their grant agreements. We initiated the audit...

We audited the State of Alabama, Department of Economic and Community Affairs' (State), Hurricane Katrina Community Development Block Grant Disaster Funds program (program), administered by the State's subrecipient, Mobile County Commission (Mobile). Our objective was to determine whether the State and Mobile administered the program in accordance with the requirements of the State's grant agreements (agreements). We initiated the...

We audited the Boston, MA, Housing Authority (Authority) because it was awarded more than $33 million in Capital Fund Recovery Grant funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) and obligated the majority of the grant shortly before the required obligation deadline. Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority (1) obligated the capital fund grant funds it received under the Recovery Act for eligible...

We conducted this audit as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual goals for audits of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (Voucher) and low-income public housing (low-income) programs. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Waltham Housing Authority (Authority) employed acceptable management and financial practices to efficiently and effectively administer the use of Voucher and low-income program funds in compliance...

HUD OIG performed an audit of the Mobile Housing Board, which serves as both the public housing agency and the administering agency for the City of Mobile, AL’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program(HOME) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. We performed the audit based on a request from the Assistant Secretary, Community Planning and Development. The Assistant Secretary, along with the Director of the Office of Affordable...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) risk assessment process. We initiated the review as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether CPD had established and properly implemented a risk assessment process that used appropriate measures to determine risk and identify grantees for monitoring. We found...