We audited the Pell City and Ragland Housing Authorities’ financial operations.  We began our review of Pell City and Ragland because it aligns with a goal in our annual audit plan to improve the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) execution of and accountability for grant funds.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Pell City Housing Authority complied with HUD’s regulations regarding the management...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), audited the Kansas City, MO, Health Department’s Lead Safe KC program due to increased media attention on lead-based paint poisoning in the Kansas City area.  Further, we had never conducted an audit of the more than $21.6 million in grants received by the Health Department since 1997.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Health...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited CitiMortgage’s processing of partial claims.  Our audit objective was to determine whether CitiMortgage filed for partial claims only after completing the loan modifications and reinstating the loans. CitiMortgage improperly filed for 66 partial claims before completing the loan modifications and reinstating the loans. The Federal Housing...

We audited the City of Chattanooga’s Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) program.  We selected the City for review in accordance with our annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the City administered its ESG program in accordance with HUD’s requirements. The City did not always administer its ESG program in accordance with HUD’s requirements.  Specifically, it did not ensure that program expenditures were...

We audited the City of Birmingham, AL’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grant.  We selected the City for review based on concerns by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Birmingham Office of Community Planning and Development in regard to the City’s administration of its disaster recovery program.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City ensured that (1)...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Section 8 housing assistance payments program of the New Horizons project in Kansas City, MO.  Our objective was to determine whether New Horizons properly verified tenants’ eligibility, requested assistance only for tenants living in the units, retained tenant files for the required period, and properly collected and deposited tenant rents...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), reviewed preforeclosure sales under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program in the St. Louis, MO, area.  We found that the purchaser of a property being sold in a preforeclosure sale entered into a consulting agreement with the realtor.  The agreement required that when the purchaser later sold the property, he would pay half of the...

We audited the City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grant.  We selected the City for review because it was allocated more than $43 million in funding to recover from the tornadoes of April 2011.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the City of Tuscaloosa (1) ensured that only eligible projects were selected into the program, (2) ensured that funds were expended only for...

We audited Shelby County’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grant.  We selected the County for review in accordance with our annual audit plan and because the County received more than $7.4 million in funding to recover from severe storms, tornadoes, straight-line winds, and flooding that occurred in April 2011.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the County ensured that (1) funds were spent only...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Majestic Management, LLC, located in St. Louis, MO. Our objective was to determine whether Majestic Management charged only the appropriate fees in managing the projects, properly procured goods and services, and disbursed project funds only for eligible and supported expenses. Majestic Management improperly charged fees to its projects, did not...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida in a civil investigation of Regions Bank.  Regions Bank has its principal place of business in Birmingham, AL, and became a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender in 1985.  As a direct...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the City of Joplin, MO’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program because the City was awarded more than $45 million in CDBG-DR funds in April 2012 and received an additional $113 million in May 2013. We previously audited the City’s CDBG-DR program in 2013 and issued audit report 2014-KC- 1002. At that time, the City...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), reviewed preforeclosure sales under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program in the St. Louis, MO, area.  We found that a realtor purchased a property in January 2010 using a limited liability company he controlled while also acting as the seller’s agent.   On October 23, 2015, HUD served a complaint on the realtor, alleging...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, in the civil investigation of Franklin American Mortgage Company.  Franklin American has its principal place of business in Franklin, TN.  Franklin American became an FHA-approved direct endorsement lender in 1995.  As a direct...

We audited the Mobile Housing Board’s financial operations.  We selected the Housing Board based on concerns from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Alabama State Office of Public Housing, following a Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) financial assessment of the Housing Board for fiscal years 2009 to 2013.  The REAC assessment showed that the Housing Board’s financial condition had deteriorated over those...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited James B. Nutter & Company, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lender located in Kansas City, MO.  We selected James B. Nutter based on data analysis showing that the servicer might be completing foreclosures faster than the industry standard, which would suggest that it might not be fully using HUD’s loss mitigation tools.  Our...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the Poplar Bluff Housing Authority because information obtained from HUD’s Public and Indian Housing Information Center indicated that the Authority appeared to have flat rents set at a rate below 80 percent of the fair market rent in that area.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority complied with HUD’s flat rent requirements...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the State of Missouri’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery program because it was initially awarded more than $103 million in two CDBG Disaster Recovery grants for storms and flooding that occurred in 2008 and we had not previously audited the State’s activities regarding these funds.  Our audit objective was to...

We audited the Huntsville Housing Authority’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.  We initiated the audit under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan.  We selected the Authority as part of a strategic plan with the Assistant United States Attorney in Northern Alabama to evaluate housing authorities in her jurisdiction.  Our audit objective was to...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - Office of Inspector General audited the Anderson Housing Authority in Anderson, MO’s participation in HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing programs.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing program in accordance with HUD requirements. The Authority did not operate its public housing program in accordance with HUD requirements....