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calculate housing assistance payments, (2) did not allow tenants to receive disability allowances, and (3) used outdated utility allowance schedules.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 audited the Harris County Housing Authority, Houston, TX, at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fort Worth Office Director of Public and Indian Housing.  The request followed a series of news articles alleging mismanagement and extravagant spending at the Authority, the removal or replacement of various former managers and board of commissioners members, and concerns expressed by the new managers...

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 conducted a limited review of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by CTX Mortgage Company LLC. We selected the lender based on the results of an auditability survey, which determined that CTX Mortgage allowed prohibited restrictive covenants to be filed against Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured properties. The objective of our review was to determine the extent to which CTX Mortgage failed to prevent the...

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso because it met our oversight objectives for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and because our risk assessment found the Authority had more than $1.7 million to be spent within 3 months of the expenditure deadline.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the Authority properly (1) obligated and spent its formula Recovery Act grant funds, (2) obtained its...

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso because it met our oversight objectives for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and because our risk assessment found the Authority had more than $1.7 million to be spent within 3 months of the expenditure deadline. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the Authority properly (1) obligated and spent its formula Recovery Act grant funds, (2) obtained its formula...

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...

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 the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. We selected the Department based upon the large amount of NSP1 funding that it received, more than $101 million. Our objective was to determine whether the Department complied with NSP1 requirements for obligations, expenditures, program income, monitoring, and...

In accordance with our goal to review Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 grantees and because of weaknesses identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated a review of the City of San Antonio’s activities funded by its Neighborhood Stabilization Program 1 grant. The objective was to determine whether the City administered its grant in accordance with program...

We audited the City of Houston’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery downpayment assistance program. The program allowed the City to provide up to $45,000 in downpayment assistance for homebuyers in low to moderate income areas within the City limits. We initiated the audit as part of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan to implement oversight...

To meet the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) objective to review funds provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and at HUD's suggestion, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Mineral Wells Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus (formula) Recovery Act funded activities. Specifically, our objectives were to determine whether the Authority followed the Recovery Act rules and regulations when obligating and...

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...

We audited the Gonzales Housing Authority’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Housing Capital Fund formula grant because it met the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) most recent audit plan objective to contribute to the oversight objectives of the Recovery Act and the San Antonio Office of Public Housing recommended it for audit. Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority (1) properly obligated and spent its...

We audited the financial and procurement operations of the Housing Authority of the City of Port Arthur, TX. We conducted this audit due to deficiencies identified in a prior audit. Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority had sufficient financial and procurement controls to ensure it used U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in accordance with laws, regulations, and policies. This review included...

We audited SWBC Mortgage Corporation, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) direct endorsement lender in San Antonio, TX. We selected the lender for audit because as of September 30, 2011, it had 25 seriously delinquent loans. Our objective was to determine whether the lender originated single-family home loans in accordance with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and FHA requirements for loans with amortization dates...

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...

We audited J&M Mortgage Brokers, Ltd., dba Mortgages USA, a Dallas, TX-based nonsupervised direct endorsement lender. We selected J&M because it had a high rate of defaults and claims within the first year. Our audit objectives were to determine whether J&M originated Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured single family mortgages in accordance with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations,...

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...