We audited the City of Pomona’s Neighborhood Stabilization Programs (NSP1 and NSP3).  We initiated the audit because of a hotline complaint with concerns regarding the administration of program funds.  Our objective was to determine whether the City administered its NSP funds in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules and requirements.  Specifically, we wanted to determine whether...

We assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of California in the civil investigation of Reunion Mortgage, Inc. (Reunion).  Reunion is a former Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved mortgage lender, with its principal place of business located in Milpitas, CA.  Based in large part on our review of loans underwritten by Reunion between December 2007 through October 2009, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a...

We conducted a civil fraud review of an alleged loan origination fraud scheme involving a loan officer that assisted a borrower to purchase a home under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program.  The alleged scheme involved submitting a false loan application and other documentation to obtain an FHA-insured loan on a home in Brentwood, CA.  Based in part on OIG’s review,...

We audited the City of Richmond’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program 1 (NSP1) in response to HUD Office of Community Planning and Development’s concerns over the City’s management of its NSP1.  Our objective was to determine whether the City administered its NSP1 in accordance with requirements related to procurement and cost eligibility. The City did not administer its NSP1 in accordance with requirements related to procurement and cost...

We reviewed an alleged loan origination fraud scheme involving a borrower purchasing a home in which the loan was insured under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program.  The alleged scheme involved submitting a false loan application to obtain an FHA-insured loan on a home in Brentwood, CA.  Based in part on our review, HUD filed a complaint against the borrower under...

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Lackawanna’s Housing Choice Voucher program because we received an anonymous complaint alleging incompetent leadership and poor quality of life at the Authority.  This is the second of two audit reports on the Authority.  Our objectives in this audit were to determine whether the Authority ensured that its Housing Choice Voucher program units met U.S. Department of Housing and Urban...

We reviewed the developer fees the County of San Bernardino paid to its Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) developers.  Our objective was to determine whether the County adequately ensured that NSP developer fees paid to its developers met HUD requirements.  We performed our review to address questionable costs identified during a prior Office of Inspector General (OIG) review (audit report 2014-LA-0002).  During that...

We audited the Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton’s (grantee) use of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Supportive Housing and HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds used for the renovation of St. Hedwig’s Veterans Village.  We audited the grantee because we received a complaint alleging misuse of HUD funds and a potential conflict of interest involving the construction management company....

We conducted a review of the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh’s compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements and restrictions based on concerns noted during our ongoing internal audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing authorities’ compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements.  Our review objective was to determine whether the Authority complied...

We audited the County of Northumberland, PA’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program grant because the chairman of the Northumberland County board of commissioners requested that we audit the program.  Our objective was to determine whether the County administered its program grant in accordance with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requirements. The County did not administer its program according to Recovery Act...

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Lackawanna, PA, because we received an anonymous complaint alleging incompetent leadership, nepotism, misuse of funds, and poor quality of life at the Authority.  Our objectives were to determine whether the allegations in the complaint had merit and whether the Authority had effective controls to prevent conflicts of interest, ensure that interfund accounts were settled in a timely manner...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a limited review of HUD’s oversight of loans underwritten by HUD-approved Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lenders.  We conducted the internal review as part of OIG’s annual audit plan, prompted by four recent OIG external lender audits reporting that the lenders allowed prohibited restrictive covenant agreements.  The...

We initiated a review of the City of Hawthorne’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and CDBG-Recovery Act (CDBG-R) program, based on a request by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Los Angeles Office of Community Planning and Development.  Our objective was to determine whether the City adequately supported its salary and program administrative cost allocations to the CDBG and CDBG-R programs in accordance...

We audited the City of Hawthorne because of a corrective action verification audit done by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) that identified $840,741 in HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds that were transferred to the Section 8 program between 2005 and 2006 (2013-LA-0802).  The objectives of the audit were to determine (1) the eligibility of $840,741 in 2005 and 2006 HOME program transfers to the Section 8 program, (2) whether...

We conducted a review of Brownsville Apartments based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Departmental Enforcement Center and the Pittsburgh Office of Multifamily Housing due to concerns that project funds were used inappropriately for purposes other than the operation of the project.  This concern was due largely to the owner’s lengthy history of being uncooperative with HUD.  Our objective...

We investigated an alleged preforeclosure scheme involving 31 properties financed with Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans.  As a result, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California brought a civil case against Mr. Mario Menendez under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement Act of 1989 (FIRREA). In August 2011, the U.S. Attorney’s Office filed a complaint in U.S. district court...

We reviewed the County of Santa Barbara’s HOME Investment Partnerships program due to concerns expressed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Los Angeles Office of Community Planning and Development regarding the County’s administration of its HOME program.  Our objective was to determine whether the County performed its monitoring responsibilities and ensured that incurred HOME program expenditures were eligible...

We audited the Blair County Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program due to a citizen’s complaint alleging that the Authority (1) did not properly calculate housing assistance payments, (2) did not allow tenants to receive disability allowances, and (3) used outdated utility allowance schedules. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority accurately calculated housing assistance payments, disability allowances and...

We audited the City of Santa Ana’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2).  We initiated the audit as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) fiscal year 2012-2013 annual audit plan.  Our objective was to determine whether the City administered its program funds in accordance with applicable HUD rules and requirements.  Specifically, our focus was to determine...

We conducted a review of the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements and restrictions based on concerns noted during our ongoing internal audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing authorities’ compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements and during the resolution of recommendations from our prior audit report concerning the...