We reviewed the Malakoff Housing Authority, Malakoff, TX. The review was part of a joint initiative between the HUD Office of Inspector General’s Office of Audit and Office of Investigation. We completed the review and referred the former executive director’s improper use of Authority funds by hiring and contracting with family members to HUD’s Office of Program Enforcement for action under the Program Civil Fraud Remedies Act of 1986. On May...

We reviewed the City of Brackettville Housing Authority, Brackettville, TX. The review was part of a joint initiative between the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Office of Audit and Office of Investigation. We completed the review and referred the former executive director’s improper use of Authority funds for personal expenses to HUD’s Office of Program Enforcement for action under the Program Civil Fraud Remedies Act of 1986. On...

We audited the Somerville Housing Authority’s public housing and Public Housing Capital Fund programs as part of our fiscal year 2016 regional audit plan.  We initiated our review because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Boston Office of Public and Indian Housing had not monitored the programs in the past 5 years and we had not audited the Authority in the past 10 years.  Our audit objectives were to...

In accordance with the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to ensure the integrity and soundness of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Public and Indian Housing programs and to follow up on weaknesses identified in another review, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Pearsall, TX, to determine whether it followed Federal procurement and the State of Texas’ requirements when contracting for its interim...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California in the civil investigation of Iron Mountain, Incorporated, and Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC (Iron Mountain).  Iron Mountain is headquartered in Boston, MA.  The investigation began due to a qui tam[1] filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted in an investigation into alleged violations by Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Inc., of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations related to its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program.  The investigation began due to a qui tam filed under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. (United States Code) 3729, in the U.S. District Court for...

In accordance with our regional audit plan, we performed a number of reviews of very small and small housing agencies located in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Region 6 jurisdiction.  We worked with HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) and Departmental Enforcement Center and the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Office of Investigation to identify housing agencies with areas of concern. ...

We conducted a limited review of the Cambridge Housing Authority’s Moving to Work Housing Choice Voucher Program’s use of exception payment standards.   This program allows public housing authorities to use exception payment standards to set rental payments in excess of the payment standard established for an authority’s rents . The review was initiated as a result of a concern raised by a member of Congress about whether public...

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and as part of our overall risk strategy, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Victoria, TX.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing and related grant programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements.  However, we limited our review to determining whether the...

We audited Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates, LTD’s underwriting of a $19.9 million mortgage loan to develop Amaranth at 544, a senior multifamily project located in Lewisville, TX.  We initiated the review based on the early default, assignment, and significant amount of the project.  Our objective was to determine whether Prudential underwrote and processed the loan for Amaranth according to the U.S. Department of Housing and...

Because of an anonymous complaint, we reviewed the Housing Authority of Bexar County, TX.  The complaint included allegations of improper procurement, improper use of Authority funds, misuse of the Authority’s credit card, and violations of Housing Choice Voucher regulations.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of...

We reviewed NTFN, Inc., based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to protect the integrity of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) housing insurance and guarantee programs.  We selected NTFN because its loan default rate was the second highest in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area from July 2012 through June 2014.  NTFN originated 3,046 FHA loans in the...

Because of concerns identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Public Housing, we performed a review of the Housing Authority of the City of Lockney.  HUD alleged that the Authority’s previous executive director had a conflict-of-interest and received ineligible payments.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing in accordance with HUD requirements and...

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and because of a complaint filed with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and issues identified by new management, we performed a review of the Rotan Housing Authority (Authority).  The complainant and Authority management alleged that the Authority maintained its records in a disorderly fashion, lacked supporting documentation for rental income, had large rental...

In accordance with our annual audit plan to review public housing programs and because of an anonymous complaint and issues identified by the San Antonio Office of Public Housing, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Taylor, Taylor, TX.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing and related grant programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD)...

We audited Cornerstone Home Lending, formerly known as Cornerstone Mortgage Company.  We selected Cornerstone based upon a high default rate at Cornerstone’s Branch 87 in 2007 through 2009.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether Cornerstone (1) complied with HUD and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations when originating and underwriting FHA-insured mortgages and (2) implemented a quality control plan that met...

At the request of the Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Houston, TX, Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, we conducted a review of Yale Court Apartments (project).  Our objective was to determine whether the project owner used the project funds in accordance with its regulatory agreement and HUD regulations. The former owner used more than $3.5 million of the project funds for ineligible and...

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs, we reviewed the Beaumont Housing Authority, Beaumont, TX.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority’s controls over tenant and unit eligibility were sufficient to ensure that it administered its low-rent public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and guidance....

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Meridian’s Queen City apartments at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Single Family Office of Asset Management.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority acquired, financed, and managed the purchase of the apartments in accordance with applicable regulations and determine the cause of the Queen City apartments’ Federal Housing...

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and as part of our overall risk strategy to review smaller housing authorities, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Beeville, TX.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing and related grant programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements.  However, we limited...