Federal organizations have a fundamental responsibility to protect the privacy of individuals and their personally identifiable information (PII) that is collected, used, maintained, shared, and disposed of by agency programs and information systems. The management of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs demands the availability and use of extensive amounts of financial, demographic, and personal information. HUD is...

We audited the County of Northumberland, PA’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program grant because the chairman of the Northumberland County board of commissioners requested that we audit the program.  Our objective was to determine whether the County administered its program grant in accordance with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requirements. The County did not administer its program according to Recovery Act...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited how the Yakama Nation Housing Authority used its nearly $4.9 million Native American Housing Block Grant provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority properly spent its Recovery Act funds, correctly obtained small purchases, and properly reported Recovery Act...

We audited the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority’s use of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) public housing operating funds.  We audited the Authority based on a complaint alleging that the Authority (1) failed to competently oversee the Federal dollars entrusted to it and (2) did not have inventory controls in place to prevent the fraudulent use of supplies.  Our audit objective was to determine whether...

We conducted an audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) fiscal year 2013 compliance with the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 as amended by the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act of 2010 (IPERA).  IPERA was enacted to eliminate and recover improper payments by requiring agencies to identify and report on programs that are susceptible to significant improper payments.  IPERA also...

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...

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and because of a complaint received by our office, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Nixon, Nixon, 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.  Specifically, we wanted to determine whether...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program and found that 33 borrowers had more than 1 loan under the program.  Having multiple loans violated program requirements because HUD requires borrowers to reside in the mortgaged residence as their principal residence and borrowers may not have more than one principal residence at the same time.  We...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program and found that 33 borrowers had more than 1 loan under the program.  Having multiple loans violated program requirements because HUD requires borrowers to reside in the mortgaged residence as their principal residence and borrowers may not have more than one principal residence at the same time.  We...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the Office of the United States Attorney, Civil Division, of the Eastern District of North Carolina with a review of loans allegedly improperly originated by Numerica Mortgage, LLC.  Numerica was a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) direct endorsement mortgagee.  The allegations originated with the office of the North Carolina...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the Office of the United States Attorney, Civil Division, of the Eastern District of North Carolina with a review of loans allegedly improperly originated by Numerica Mortgage, LLC.  Numerica was a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) direct endorsement mortgagee.  The allegations originated with the office of the North Carolina...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of Public and Indian Housing program interfund transactions. Our objective was to determine whether HUD (1) had adequate procedures to identify, monitor, and evaluate public housing agencies (PHA) with interfunds, and (2) took appropriate actions to curtail improper practices when borrowing from restricted HUD programs was found. HUD officials adequately...

We audited the Office of the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs’ (OCMA) Puerto Rico State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Section 108 Loan Guarantee program as part of our strategic plan, based on concerns regarding the slow progress of the Vieques sports complex project.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether OCMA used Section 108 loan proceeds on a project that met a national objective of the CDBG program and...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) violation report regarding the misuse of a government purchase card in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) implementing guidance and the Government Charge Card Abuse Prevention Act of 2012.   HUD is responsible for the violation report and the conclusions expressed in the report.  Our objective was to evaluate the fairness of the...

We audited certain portions of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) multifamily housing programs as part of our fiscal year 2013 annual audit plan, based on an auditability study that we conducted, which identified potentially significant risk factors in its McKinney Act bond refund program.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether HUD properly enforced requirements that regulated the application of...

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) monitoring of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grantees’ incurred developer fees based on a prior external audit, which indicated that CPD field offices may not have provided adequate oversight of NSP grantees to ensure that for-profit developers did not incur questionable developer fees.  Our objective...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD’s oversight of contracting for architectural and engineering contracts due to a referral involving a multi-State manufactured home inspection contract awarded by HUD in which the contractor received excessive payments.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD properly procured and made reasonable payments for its manufactured...

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) San Francisco and Los Angeles Offices of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) monitoring of CPD-funded assets transferred by former redevelopment agencies due to concerns that CPD-funded assets may be lost during the State of California’s statewide mandated closure of redevelopment agencies.  Our objective was to determine whether the San Francisco and Los...

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Lackawanna, PA, because we received an anonymous complaint alleging incompetent leadership, nepotism, misuse of funds, and poor quality of life at the Authority.  Our objectives were to determine whether the allegations in the complaint had merit and whether the Authority had effective controls to prevent conflicts of interest, ensure that interfund accounts were settled in a timely manner...

We conducted a review of Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program payments made to Deandra Caison, a landlord, for a tenant residing in a property that Ms. Caison no longer owned.  Ms. Caison had sold the property to her brother but continued to receive housing assistance payments.  Between November 2007 and March 2010, Caison received $29,055 in housing assistance payments from the Orlando Housing Authority.  To resolve the...