On April 17, 2018, the Office of Program Enforcement issued a letter stating that it had reached a resolution under a Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act of 1986[1] case regarding Summit Bradford Apartments located in Tulsa, OK, following its review.  The Government alleged that the owner submitted 40 false claims under the Act.  The Office of Program Enforcement included with its letter the March 28, 2018, settlement agreement with BSR...

We audited the City of Atlanta, GA, and its subrecipient, the Fulton County-City of Atlanta Land Bank Authority.  We began our review of the City’s administration of its Neighborhood Stabilization Programs 1 (NSP1) and 3 (NSP3) grants because it aligns with our goal in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s annual audit plan to improve HUD’s execution of and accountability for grant funds...

We audited the Housing Authority of DeKalb County’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) conversion and Public Housing Capital Fund program.  We selected the Authority for review in accordance with our annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority properly administered its RAD conversion and obligated and authorized capital funds in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’...

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Tulsa’s administration of its Section 8 program.  We selected the Authority based on reports generated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Enterprise Income Verification system (EIV).  The Authority had indicators of noncompliance with program requirements.  Specifically, EIV reported an annualized income discrepancy of more than $1.6 million for 328...

We audited the State of Oklahoma because it received $93.7 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) allocations for presidentially declared disasters that occurred in 2011, 2012, and 2013.  The substantial amount of CDBG-DR funding required a review of the State’s program.  Our objective was to determine whether the State obligated and spent its grant in accordance with requirements.  The State...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Northern District of Alabama in the civil investigation of Guardian Pest Services, Inc., doing business as Knox Pest Control and J.J.S.K. Solutions, Inc.  Knox Pest Control has its principal place of business in Columbus, GA.  A HUD home is a one-to-four unit residential property acquired by HUD as...

We audited the Georgia Housing and Finance Authority’s implementation of the Federal Housing Administration’s Home Affordable Modification Program (FHA-HAMP).  We selected the Authority because (1) our data analysis showed that the Authority had the highest ratio of FHA-HAMP actions to delinquent loans within the jurisdiction of our regional office, (2) the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) office located in Atlanta,...

We audited the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s use of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in accordance with the Office of Inspector General’s goal to ensure the integrity and soundness of HUD’s Public and Indian Housing programs and to follow up on weaknesses identified in other reviews.  The audit objective was to determine whether the Nation complied with HUD requirements when it housed families and procured contracts...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) assisted in an investigation into alleged violations of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations by Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corporation and Home America Mortgage, Inc.  The investigation included a qui tam action filed under the False Claims Act in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia.  The False...

We audited St. Francis Hospital, Inc. because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Hospital Facilities, requested immediate assistance from HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) to review suspected violations of the hospital’s regulatory agreement and rider (including covenants).  Our objective was to determine whether the hospital complied with the executed regulatory agreement and HUD requirements for...

We reviewed the City of Moore, OK, because it received $52.2 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding in response to the tornado that struck Moore on May 20, 2013.  Further, the City only recently became a CDBG entitlement grantee, and there was a substantial increase between its regular CDBG funding and its CDBG-DR funding.  Also, our annual audit plan placed a priority on reviewing entities...

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Comer’s financial and procurement operations.  We selected the Authority based on concerns from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Georgia State Office of Public Housing regarding significant deficiencies identified during its August 2013 management review.  HUD’s Office of Public Housing identified findings regarding the misuse of funds, a lack of governance...

We audited the Section 8 program administered by Summit Bradford Apartments in Tulsa, OK.  We selected Bradford because we were informed that its management agent may have received Section 8 subsidies for vacant units.  Our objective was to determine whether Summit Bradford Apartments, LP, the owner, and Summit Housing Partners, LLC, the management agent, administered Bradford’s Section 8 program in compliance with its housing...

The civil division of the Western District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney’s Office settled alleged violations of equity skimming against the owners of Heartland Health Care Center of Bethany. The equity skimming allegations stemmed from our December 2004 audit report outlining the misuse of funds. As a result of the combined efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s office; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector...

We audited the Cherokee Nation in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s goal to review funds provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Our objective was to determine whether the Nation complied with Recovery Act requirements for procuring, expending, and reporting its formula Native American Housing Block Grant funds received under the Recovery Act. The...

We audited the Cherokee Nation in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s goal to review funds provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  Our objective was to determine whether the Nation complied with Recovery Act requirements for procuring, expending, and reporting its formula Native American Housing Block Grant funds received under the Recovery...

We audited the Maine State Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program pertaining to its housing quality standard inspections, and other expenditures and procurements using U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds.  Our review was initiated based on a congressional request from Senator Susan Collins.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether (1) the Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program...

Based on a request by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) multifamily housing Kansas City hub office, we started an audit of three related nursing facilities on August 2008: • Bartlesville Health Care Center, Inc., doing business as Silver Lake Care Center; • Mannford Health Care Center, Inc., doing business as Cimarron Pointe Care Center; and • Owasso Nursing Center, Inc., doing business as...

The Director of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Oklahoma City Office of Community Planning and Development requested that we perform a corrective action verification of recommendation 1B in audit report 2008-FW-1012, The City of Tulsa, OK, Allowed Its Largest Subrecipient To Expend $1.5 Million in Unsupported CDBG Funding. We expanded the review to include recommendation 1C. The purpose of the review was to...