We completed an audit of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Single Family Program Development Office’s automated underwriting process. We assessed whether HUD had in place appropriate and effective management controls over its automated underwriting process. The audit was performed as part of the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan and supported the audit plan objective to contribute...

We performed an internal audit of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program because we found that an increasing number of borrowers had not paid taxes or homeowners insurance premiums as required, thus placing the loan in default. Also, we noted that HUD had granted foreclosure deferrals routinely on defaulted loans, but it had no formal procedures. Our audit objective was to...

We performed an audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) property and equipment. We performed this audit as a result of recurring findings relating to HUD’s property and equipment reported in the fiscal years 2004 through 2008 management letters. Our objective was to determine whether HUD properly recorded and tracked the acquisition and disposal of its capitalized and other accountable property and equipment. We...

We conducted a national audit of whether public housing authorities overpaid voucher subsidies to multifamily property owners in specific types of subsidized properties. If a public housing authority pays a property owner a subsidized rent at one of these types of properties, the voucher rent should be set at the level of the rent payments to the subsidized multifamily properties, which generally is lower than the public housing authorities’...

In response to a request from the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Board), we performed a review of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) guidance to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) recipients to post signs, logos, and emblems intended to publicly identify the expenditure of Recovery Act or "stimulus" funds. The Board was asked by Congressman Darrell Issa, ranking...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Title II single-family lender renewal process. The objective of the audit was to determine whether FHA ensured that lenders submitted recertification requirements in a timely manner. We found that FHA did not ensure that lenders submitted recertification forms, annual fees, and/or audited financial...

We conducted the audit of the Retreat at Santa Rita Springs (community), a Federal Housing Administration-insured multifamily property under the Section 231 of the National Housing Act, in response to a congressional request from Representative Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th Congressional District of Arizona. In November 2009, the owners of the community defaulted on its $29.9 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-...

We evaluated the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) award process for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). We initiated the review as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan. Our primary objective was to determine whether HUD’s methodology and controls for the evaluation and selection of applications for the $1.93 billion in NSP2 funds were in accordance with applicable requirements. We...

We audited Sasha Bruce Youthwork, Incorporated (Youthwork, Inc.) to determine whether it used its Youthbuild and Supportive Housing program grant funds in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and its grant agreements. We found that Youthwork, Inc., did not support the eligibility of more than $1.9 million in expenditures. Youthwork, Inc., failed to maintain records identifying the source and...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD's Office of Public Housing and Voucher Programs to determine whether HUD reasonably ensured that public housing agencies properly managed their housing choice voucher net restricted assets and to determine whether HUD appropriately awarded 2009 set-aside fund awards for unforeseen circumstances and higher than average leasing. We found that...

We audited the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) compliance with obligation, recapture, and reallocation requirements for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) Public Housing Capital Fund program. Specifically, its plans to recapture unobligated Recovery Act Public Housing Capital Fund formula grants by the March 17, 2010 obligation deadline and to reallocate the recaptured funds. HUD’s plan...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Office of Affordable Housing Programs’ (Office) oversight of resale and recapture provisions for HOME Investment Partnerships Program (Program)-assisted homeownership projects (project). The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan to contribute to improving HUD’s execution of and accountability for its fiscal...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Office of Block Grant Assistance’s (Office) controls over special conditions in Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant agreements under Title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Act) as amended. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s Office...

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 evaluated the efforts of HUD’s Financial Operations Center (FOC) in managing Federal Housing Administration (FHA) debts due HUD as a result of single-family indemnification agreements and civil money penalties (CMP).  We wanted to know whether FOC debt servicing and collections complied with applicable Federal laws and regulations.  We also wanted to determine the status and assess the collectability of the September 30, 2008,...

We evaluated HUD’s September 2009 response to questions posed by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board’s survey of staff resources dedicated to American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).  We wanted to know if the reported number of HUD contract and grant personnel responsible for ARRA funding and oversight could be validated and relied on for public disclosure. The full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing levels submitted in...

In accordance with our annual audit plan and due to concerns regarding the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) capacity to handle the increasing demand for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), we initiated an audit of HUD’s Philadelphia, PA, Homeownership Center (Center). This is the first of two audit reports that we plan to issue on the Center’s capacity to process current demand for FHA loans. The...

We completed a review of the District of Columbia’s (grantee) administration of HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds that it provided to CEMI-Parkside Associates, LLP (Parkside Associates), a limited partnership managed by developer H.R. Crawford. The funds were provided for the rehabilitation/construction of a high rise property known as Parkside Terrace Apartments (Parkside Terrace). We initiated the review in response to a...

We initiated the audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) efforts to recover the City of New London, CT, Housing Authority (Authority) due to its longstanding troubled status. The Authority has had significant management deficiencies for more than 10 years, and HUD identified the Authority as “overall troubled” in May of 2004. Our objective for this audit was to evaluate HUD’s effectiveness in identifying and helping...

We reviewed the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) guidance on using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) capital funding for physical needs assessments. Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s guidance to grantees on using Recovery Act capital funds for physical needs assessments was sufficient to ensure grantees had the information needed to avoid missing the grant obligation deadline of...