We audited HUD Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) partial claim option.  We audited the FHA-HAMP partial claim option because we had not reviewed the program since 2011 and the requirements had changed.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate controls over FHA-HAMP partial claim payments. HUD’s claim payment controls for the FHA-HAMP partial claim option were not...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).  We initiated the audit under the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan.  Our objective was to provide an overall assessment of NSP, including assessing the sufficiency of HUD’s controls and determining whether HUD had improved its controls as a...

In accordance with the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, as amended, we are required to annually audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the stand alone financial statements of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Government National Mortgage Administration (Ginnie Mae). Our objective was to express an opinion on the fairness of the financial statements in...

We reviewed information system controls over the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) computing environment.  This review was conducted as part of the Office of Inspector General’s audit of HUD’s financial statements for fiscal year 2014 under the Chief Financial Officer’s Act of 1990. The OIG has determined that the contents of this report would not be appropriate for public disclosure and has therefore limited its...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s monitoring of the community service and self-sufficiency requirement (CSSR)  to determine the extent to which HUD subsidized public housing units occupied by noncompliant tenants and housing for tenants whose CSSR status was misreported. We found that HUD subsidized housing for 106,000 units occupied by noncompliant tenants, out of nearly...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing agencies’ lobbying activities based on information we obtained while resolving recommendations from an audit of the Philadelphia Housing Authority which showed that the Authority engaged in lobbying activities that it failed to disclose.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD oversight was adequate to ensure that public housing...

Based on a hotline complaint and additional work by our Financial Audit Division and Office of Legal Counsel, we reviewed whether a conflict of interest existed within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH). Specifically, former PIH Assistant Secretary Sandra B. Henriquez appointed Debra Gross, a former lobbyist and the deputy director of the Council of Large Public Housing...

Preliminary Research Closeout Memorandum In 2011, HUD established a high priority goal to reduce vacancies through improved management of the public housing inventory. Since then, HUD has substantially reduced vacancies, saving taxpayer dollars and enhancing the availability of habitable rental units. Subsidized vacancies, measured in unit months, have decreased from approximately 550,000 in 2011 to approximately 379,000 currently. The...

The Inspector General Act of 1978 requires the Inspector General to prepare semiannual reports summarizing the activities of the Office of Inspector General for the preceding six-month periods. The semiannual reports are intended to keep the Secretary and the Congress fully informed of significant findings, progress the Agency has made and recommendations for improvement.

We are required to audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) annually in accordance with the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 as amended.  Our objectives were to evaluate HUD’s internal controls over financial reporting and compliance with applicable laws, regulations, and government wide policy requirements and provisions of contracts and grant agreements.  This...

We reviewed the general and application controls over the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Loan Accounting System (LAS) as part of the internal control assessments required for the fiscal year 2014 financial statement audit under the Chief Financial Officer’s Act of 1990.  Our objective was to review the effectiveness of general and application controls over LAS for compliance with HUD information technology...

We assisted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) in conducting an investigation of SunTrust Mortgage, Inc.’s underwriting practices for Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans.  On June 17, 2014, DOJ and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with 49 State attorneys general and the District of Columbia’s attorney general, filed suit against SunTrust for misconduct related to the origination and servicing of single-...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) procurement and administration of its multifamily mortgage loan and property management servicing and accounting contract.  We conducted this review based on concerns communicated to the HUD Office of Inspector General (OIG) by the Federal Housing Commissioner and HUD housing officials.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether HUD officials (1)...

The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA) directs the Office of Inspector General (OIG) to conduct an annual evaluation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) information security program.  FISMA, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) establish information technology (IT) security guidance and...

In accordance with the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 (Public Law 101-576), as amended, OIG is responsible for the conduct of the annual financial statement audit of FHA.  Our work includes the audit of FHA’s balance sheets as of September 30, 2014 and 2013, and the related statements of net costs and changes in net position, the combined statements of budgetary resources for the years then ended, and the related notes to the...

We reviewed the general and application controls over the Federal Housing Administration’s subsidiary ledger as part of the internal control assessments required for the fiscal year 2014 financial statement audit under the Chief Financial Officer’s Act of 1990.  Our objective was to review the effectiveness of general and application controls over the subsidiary ledger for compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban...

We reviewed the information security controls over the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Ginnie Mae Financial Accounting System (GFAS) as part of the internal control assessments required for the fiscal year 2014 financial statement audit under the Chief Financial Officer’s Act of 1990.  Our audit objective was to determine the effectiveness of general and application controls over GFAS for compliance with HUD...

We reviewed the general and application controls over the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) Single Family Housing Enterprise Data Warehouse as part of the internal control assessments of FHA’s principal financial statements for fiscal year 2014.  Our objective was to determine the effectiveness of general and application controls over the data warehouse for compliance with HUD information technology policies and Federal information...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program and found that 33 borrowers had more than 1 loan under the program.  Having multiple loans violated program requirements because HUD requires borrowers to reside in the mortgaged residence as their principal residence and borrowers may not have more than one principal residence at the same time.  We...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), in conjunction with the Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Michigan and Northern District of Ohio, conducted a joint investigation of U.S. Bank National Association’s (U.S. Bank) loan originations, underwriting practices, and quality control program for Federal Housing...