We completed a review of Hudson County, NJ’s administration of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program based on a risk analysis performed by the Office of Inspector General (OIG).  The objective of the audit was to determine whether County officials had established and implemented controls to ensure that the County administered its CDBG program in accordance with program requirements. Our review determined that Hudson County’s...

We audited the State of Florida’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program because the State was awarded more than $107 million to recover from the 2008 natural disasters and to undertake activities and long-term strategies that focus on reducing future natural disasters.  Further, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, had not audited the State since 2006....

We performed the 19th review of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery Assistance funds awarded to the State of New York in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether LMDC disbursed CDBG Disaster Recovery Assistance...

We completed a review of the City of New York, Office of Management and Budget’s administration of the Business Loan and Grant Program funded with Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist in the disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts resulting from Hurricane Sandy.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the City (1...

We completed a review of First Niagara Bank’s servicing of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages and its implementation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Loss Mitigation program.  We selected First Niagara Bank based on an Office of Inspector General risk assessment of single-family lenders.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether First Niagara Bank properly serviced FHA-...

We audited the City of New York, Office of Management and Budget’s administration of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Assistance (CDBG-DR) funds awarded to the City as a result of damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.  This review was related to the disbursement of approximately $4 million in CDBG-DR funds pertaining to administration costs.   The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the City (1)...

HUD OIG assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, in the civil investigation of Group One Mortgage, Inc.  Group One’s principal place of business is located in Jupiter, FL.  Group One has participated in the FHA insurance program since 2004 and became a direct endorsement lender in 2005.  The direct endorsement program authorizes private-sector mortgage lenders to approve mortgage loans for FHA insurance...

HUD OIG assisted in an investigation into alleged violations of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations applicable to the direct endorsement program by Golden First Mortgage Corporation and its owner.  Golden First is a former FHA-approved mortgage lender, with its principal place of business located in Great Neck, NY.  Golden First participated in the direct endorsement program from 1989 until 2010.  As a direct...

We completed a review of the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority’s legal and police service expenses in response to a hotline complaint.  The complainant alleged that Authority officials paid outside legal counsel for work that should have been done by its own legal staff and paid for police services below the baseline level of services that should have been provided under a cooperation agreement with the City of Buffalo. The allegation in...

We completed a review of the Freeport Housing Authority’s administration of its low-rent housing and homeownership programs.  We selected the Authority due to a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) New York Office of Public and Indian Housing officials.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its low-rent housing and homeownership programs in accordance with...

We completed a review of the City of New York, Office of Management and Budget’s administration of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Assistance (CDBG-DR) funds awarded to the City as a result of damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.  This review was related to the disbursement of $183 million as reimbursement to the Health and Hospitals Corporation under the City’s Public Service activity.  The objectives of the...

We completed the 18th audit report in our ongoing review of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery Assistance funds awarded to the State of New York in the aftermath of the September 11, 2011, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  During the audit period, April 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013, LMDC...

We audited EverBank’s Preforeclosure Sale Program because it had the highest Florida preforeclosure sale claims of all servicing lenders located in Florida and more than 50 percent of its Florida Federal Housing Administration (FHA) claims were from preforeclosure sales with more than $12.9 million paid from 2011 through 2013.  Our objective was to determine whether EverBank properly determined that mortgagors were eligible to participate...

We audited Miami-Dade County’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  The County was selected for review because (1) our audit plan included audits of HOME grantees; (2) the Miami U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development, ranked the County as high risk in its 2012 and 2013 risk assessments; and (3) HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) had not performed an audit of the County’s...

We assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, in conducting an investigation of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase).  The investigation began due to a qui tam filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  The False Claims Act allows private persons to file suit for violations of the False Claims Act on behalf of the Government.  A suit filed by an...

We performed an audit of the Boca Raton Housing Authority mainly to assess the validity of nine allegations made against the Authority.  The primary audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program tenant files in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s regulations, specifically to verify the validity of the complaint. Four of the nine...

We completed a review of Palladia, Inc.’s administration of its Supportive Housing Program.  We selected Palladia for review based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) New York City Office of Community Planning and Development.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether Palladia officials (1) carried out program-assisted activities with the appropriate beneficiaries, (2) expended...

We audited the Niagara Falls Housing Authority’s HOPE VI grant program based on an Office of Inspector General risk analysis and the amount of funding the Authority received.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Authority administered its HOPE VI grant program and activities in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and HOPE VI grant program requirements. The Authority did not always...

We audited the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program administered by Hillsborough County, FL, as part of the activities in our 2013 fiscal year annual audit plan.  We selected the County for review based on a complaint referral from the Office of Inspector General’s Office of Investigation on a public complaint alleging the County’s misuse of CDBG funds for the County’s cleanup events.  Our audit objective was to determine...

We audited the City of Elmira, NY’s administration of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program based on our risk analysis and funding received by the City.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the City (1) ensured that program activities were adequately documented and administered in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations, and (2) expended CDBG funds for eligible...