We audited the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Preforeclosure Sales Program claim process in accordance with our goal to contribute to improving the integrity of FHA single-family insurance programs.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) paid ineligible preforeclosure sale claims that did not meet the net sales proceeds requirements. FHA paid preforeclosure sale claims...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) controls over the Brownfield and Round II Empowerment Zone programs as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan.  Our objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate procedures to measure Brownfield and Round II Empowerment Zone effectiveness. HUD did not have adequate procedures to ensure the effectiveness of its Brownfield Economic Development...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) risk assessment procedures as they relate to subrecipient involvement in CPD programs.  We initiated the audit due to observations by HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) auditors of frequent subrecipient-related findings in CPD external audits.  Our objective was to determine whether CPD’s risk assessments...

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 audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring of grantee compliance with the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) timeliness spending requirement.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether HUD’s guidance for ensuring compliance with the CDBG entitlement spending requirement had been implemented effectively by the field offices; specifically, whether HUD needs to implement additional...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Housing Choice Voucher program as part of an Office of Inspector General plan to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of HUD programs.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether HUD’s guidance for optimizing and stabilizing housing choice voucher utilization had been implemented effectively by the field offices and public housing agencies. HUD officials...

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...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD’s oversight of Section 3 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1968 due to concerns over its ensuring economic opportunities for low- and very low-income persons.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD enforced the requirements of the Section 3 program for Recovery Act Public Housing Capital Fund recipients. We found that...

 We audited the selection and award of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) fiscal year 2010  HOPE VI revitalization grants, based on a hotline complaint alleging that HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) (1) selected and awarded fiscal year 2011 HOPE VI funds to grantees that applied for fiscal year 2010 grants but did not publish a notice of funding availability (NOFA) for its fiscal year 2011...

We audited certain portions of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) multifamily housing and healthcare insured mortgage programs as part of our fiscal year 2012 annual audit plan.  The objective of the review was to determine the adequacy of the Office of Housing’s procedures and controls for selecting, conducting, and following up on postendorsement underwriting reviews of insured multifamily and healthcare loans...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General selected HUD’s Federal Housing Administration, Single Family Claims Branch, for audit based on an internal audit suggestion expressing concern that HUD may not have policies, procedures, or systems to identify and address funds held by lenders and submitted as part of a claim.  Our audit objective was to determine whether FHA had adequately reduced mortgage...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) servicing of multifamily projects with HUD-held mortgages because it was part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan. We reviewed 33 multifamily projects with HUD-held mortgages that totaled $307.9 million. Our objective was to determine whether HUD (1) obtained, documented, and reviewed the monthly accounting reports and (2) collected monthly net...

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...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General conducted a limited scope internal review of Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (Healthy Homes) to determine whether Healthy Homes allowed excessive administrative costs to be charged to the Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control grant program. This review was the result of the audit of the Washington State Lead Hazard Control grant (2012-SE-1005,...

We audited the Office of Labor Relations deposit account based on a request from the Acting Director of the Office Labor Relations. The Acting Director was concerned with internal controls over the deposit account. The objective of our review was to determine whether (1) controls used to administer and distribute restitution payments were adequate and (2) the correct workers received the restitution payments. Labor Relations violated the...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Hurricane Disaster Recovery program for hurricanes that hit the Gulf Coast States from August 2005 through September 2008. Our audit objective was to assess the program overall. Specifically, we wanted to (1) determine what had been accomplished using the funding and the funds remaining to be spent; (2) compare actual versus...

We conducted an audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) fiscal year 2012 compliance with the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 as amended by the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (IPERA).  The statute was enacted to prevent the loss of billions in taxpayer dollars due to improper payments by requiring the agency to identify and report on its programs and activities that are...

We conducted an evaluation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) toll free phone lines.  Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s phone lines were functioning at optimal levels with regard to phone line operations and the level of customer service provided to the public. Our review disclosed that HUD could not determine (1) whether its toll free phone lines were functioning at an optimal level and (2) the...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Home Investment Partnerships Program as part of an Office of Inspector General (OIG) plan to improve HUD’s execution and accountability of fiscal responsibility. Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s proposed regulation changes and controls would mitigate the systemic deficiencies identified in prior OIG audit reports. We found that if properly implemented, HUD’s...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of Private Enforcement Initiative grants awarded under its Fair Housing Initiatives program as part of our annual audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether HUD performed monitoring to ensure that enforcement grant funds were spent in compliance with grant terms and program requirements. HUD monitoring generally covered procedures required to ensure that...