We audited the City of West Palm Beach’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  The City was selected for review because (1) our audit plan included audits of HOME grantees, (2) the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Miami Office of Community Planning and Development ranked the City as high risk in its 2012 risk assessment, and (3) the most recent HUD monitoring review in 2012 identified concerns with the City’s...

We audited Lighthouse Inn, an assisted living facility located in Pompano Beach, FL.  In April 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) insured the $5.1 million mortgage on the property under Section 232 of the National Housing Act.  In September 2010, the facility defaulted on the mortgage loan.  Our overall audit objective was to determine whether the owner of Lighthouse Inn complied with the executed...

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 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calculate housing assistance payments, (2) did not allow tenants to receive disability allowances, and (3) used outdated utility allowance schedules.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 reviewed the City of Apalachicola’s Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funded by the State of Florida for a marina improvements project in response to a hotline complaint.  The complaint was submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General in a letter, dated June 29, 2012.  The objectives of the review were to determine whether the City’s CDBG grant application...

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...

We audited the City of Sarasota because it was awarded $23 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2) funds and it was in accordance with our audit plan to review funds provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Our objective was to determine whether the City administered its NSP2 in accordance with applicable Federal requirements. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether (1) approved activities met a...

We conducted a limited scope review of the Philadelphia Housing Authority based on questions surrounding the abrupt departure of the Authority’s executive director in June 2012. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority’s executive director improperly used U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds by providing improper gifts or unsupported promotions to a senior staff member with whom he had an improper...

We audited Luzerne County, PA’s $6 million loan of Community Development Block Grant funds to CityVest that was expected to be used to revitalize the historic Hotel Sterling and surrounding properties. We did the audit because HUD Office of Inspector General audit report 2012-PH-0001 identified this long standing open Block Grant activity and because we received a citizen complaint alleging possible misappropriation of these funds. Our...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a review of Section 8 housing assistance payments made to Lynn Leggins, a landlord, for a tenant with whom he lived. The objective of our review was to determine whether Mr. Leggins received housing assistance payments that he was not eligible to receive. HUD’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program provides rental subsidies through tenant...

We audited the Allegheny County Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program because (1) the Authority received more than $27.3 million in Housing Choice Voucher funding in fiscal year 2011, (2) an article in the October 22, 2011, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described housing quality standards problems with a housing unit participating in the Authority’s program, and (3) we had never audited the Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program. The...

We audited Little Haiti Housing Association as a result of a complaint received regarding its administration of the multifamily activity funded under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). Our objective was to determine whether Little Haiti used NSP2 funds in compliance with Federal regulations. Specifically, we focused on determining whether (1) Little Haiti complied with Federal regulations when selecting and using the developer,...

We audited the City of Philadelphia, PA’s administration of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 grant that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as part of our fiscal year 2012 audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether the grantee administered the grant in accordance with Recovery Act and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We found that the grantee generally...

HUD OIG audited Universal American Mortgage, Co. LLC, located in Miami, FL, in accordance with our annual audit plan. Universal was selected for review because its default rate of 3.8 percent was higher than the Miami area default rate of 1.9 percent. Our objectives were to determine whether the lender followed U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements when originating and underwriting loans and implementing its...

HUD OIG audited Nationwide Mortgage & Associates, Inc., a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved non-supervised direct endorsement lender located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. We selected this lender because its default rate of 4 percent was higher than the Miami U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) area average default rate of 2 percent. The audit objectives were to determine whether the lender followed HUD requirements...

We audited the City of Orlando’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program because it had more than $1 million that it needed to commit approximately 1 month before its deadline compliance date. Our objective was to determine whether the City accurately entered commitments and project completion data into the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Integrated Disbursement and Information System for HOME-funded activities. The City...

We audited Four Freedoms House of Philadelphia, Inc.’s management of its Section 202 housing project. We selected Four Freedoms for an audit because we received a complaint alleging that it mismanaged its Section 202 housing project. Our audit objective was to determine whether Four Freedoms managed its Section 202 housing project according to the requirements of its regulatory agreement and applicable HUD requirements. We focused the audit...

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial, Incorporated) we reviewed Ally Financial, Incorporated’s foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other...

We audited Luzerne County, PA's administration of its Community Development Block Grant funds that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We selected the County for an audit because we received a complaint alleging that the County may have misappropriated Block Grant funds and because of our mandate to audit Recovery Act activities. Our audit objective was to determine whether the County obligated, expended...

HUD OIG audited the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale’s (Authority’s) administration of its Public Housing Capital Fund grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This was an OIG-initiated audit in accordance with OIG’s 2010-2015 strategic plan to contribute to the effective use of Federal funds allocated by the Recovery Act. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its...