We audited the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program at the State of Arizona Housing Department (Department) because it was the largest single Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program grant awarded within Arizona under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Our objective was to determine whether the Department administered the grant in compliance with Recovery Act and other applicable...

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...

We audited Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loan processes at two DHI Mortgage Company, LTD (DHI Mortgage), branches in Scottsdale, AZ, to determine whether DHI Mortgage originated, approved, and closed FHA-insured single-family loans in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We recently conducted an audit of DHI Mortgage’s Tucson and Scottsdale branches and identified significant...

In response to an April 3, 2009, hotline request from the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Pipe Spring, AZ (Kaibab), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD’s evaluation of Kaibab’s application for an Indian Community Development Block Grant (Indian Block Grant) under HUD’s 2008 notice of funding availability. The review objective was to evaluate the merits of the complainant’s...

We audited the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher program operated by the State of Massachusetts, Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), as part of our annual audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether the DHCD properly administered its Project-Based Voucher program in compliance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The DHCD generally administered its program in compliance with HUD...

We audited the HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funded housing programs administered by the City of Holyoke’s Office of Community Development (City) as part of our annual audit plan. The City was selected based upon our analysis of risk factors relating to HOME grantees in Region 1. Our objective was to determine whether the City properly administered its HOME and CDBG funded housing...

We conducted a capacity review of the Navajo Housing Authority’s (Authority) operations. The objective of the review was to evaluate the Authority’s capacity to administer its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) funds and identify related potential internal control weaknesses that could impact its ability to properly administer the funds. We did not find evidence indicating that the Authority lacked the basic capacity to...

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 performed a capital fund administrative capacity review of the Housing Authority of the City of Eloy (Authority) because, despite the Authority’s persistent management problems, HUD awarded the Authority a Public Housing Capital Fund grant of $113,672 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Our objective was to determine whether the Authority had sufficient capacity to administer its Recovery Act Public...

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 Park Lee Apartments to determine whether it complied with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) regulatory agreement and other federal requirements. We found that Park Lee Apartments did not use its project funds in compliance with HUD and other federal requirements. Specifically, the owner and/or management agents violated the regulatory agreement with HUD by paying $512,562 in questioned costs from the...

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 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 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Public Housing field office in Phoenix, Arizona (Public Housing). The objective of the audit was to determine whether Public Housing’s procedures for monitoring the Nogales Housing Authority (Authority) were effective. The audit was started because Public Housing performed several monitoring reviews at the Authority; however, there were indications that some of...

We performed a corrective action verification of HUD's actions in implementing recommendation 1F from our audit of the Housing Authority of Maricopa County's Mixed Finance Development Activities (Rose Terrace and Maricopa Revitalization), Audit Report 2005-LA-1002, issued March 14, 2005. The purpose of the corrective action verification was to determine whether HUD officials appropriately closed audit recommendation 1F in accordance...

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 related CHDO...

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 and whether...

We audited Campaige Place at Jackson (Campaige Place) to determine whether it used its project funds in compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) regulatory agreement and other federal requirements. Campaige Place did not use its project funds in compliance with HUD’s and other federal requirements. Specifically, we determined that: •Owner advances of $73,750 were repaid when the project had no surplus cash...

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

We audited the mortgage origination and business practices of the First Magnus Financial Corporation’s (First Magnus) corporate office in Tucson, Arizona. The objective of the audit was to determine whether First Magnus violated U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements by paying builders and real estate companies marketing fees and non-competition fees in exchange for the referral of Federal Housing Administration (...