We audited the State of Georgia’s monitoring of its Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria (HIM) grants’ activities and subrecipients.  We initiated this audit to further HUD’s strategic objective to support effectiveness and accountability in long-term disaster recovery.  HUD awarded more than $50.9 million in disaster recovery funds to the State for the natural…

We audited Vineville Christian Towers’ (project) Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion in accordance with our annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the project’s RAD conversion to the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher Program was completed in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements; specifically, whether the Macon-Bibb County Housing…

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) funding allotment for tenant protection assistance at the Vineville Christian Towers (project) related to a housing conversion action and its approval of the project’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion.  The review was initiated as a result of internal issues identified during an external audit of the project’s RAD conversion. The…

We audited Vineville Christian Towers’ (project) Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion in accordance with our annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the project’s RAD conversion to the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher Program was completed in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements; specifically, whether Christian Church Homes of North…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

We audited DeKalb County’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program because it received more than $8 million in HOME funding since 2008. Our objective was to determine whether the County accurately entered commitments and project completion data into HUD’s Integrated Disbursement and Information System. The County did not require that the signatures of all parties who signed written agreements be dated to support whether the commitments…

HUD OIG performed an audit of the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program at the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The audit was part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) national mandate to oversee and audit grant activities funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). We selected the Georgia Department of Community…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General conducted a review of the City of Columbus, GA’s (City) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) to determine whether the City had demonstrated the capacity to properly obligate all NSP1 grant funds and at least 25 percent of the grant toward occupants with incomes below 50 percent of the median income in the locality (LH25) set-aside by the…

HUD OIG performed an audit of the East Point Housing Authority (Authority) Housing Choice Voucher program. We selected the Authority due to the lack of onsite monitoring performed by the Office of Public Housing, Georgia State Office, over the past 10 years and the fact that the number of program tenants had more than doubled over the past few years. The purpose of the audit was to determine (1) whether the Authority established…

We conducted a review of 20 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Pine State Mortgage Corporation (Pine State), an FHA direct endorsement lender. This review was conducted as part of our “Operation Watchdog” initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion of the FHA Commissioner. The Commissioner expressed concern regarding the increasing claim rates against the FHA…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General conducted a review of the City of Augusta, GA’s (City) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) to determine whether the City had demonstrated the capacity to properly obligate all NSP1 grant funds and at least 25 percent of the grant toward occupants with incomes below 50 percent of the median income in the locality (LH25) set-aside by the…

HUD OIG performed an audit of the Housing Authority of DeKalb County’s use of its net restricted assets based on a request from the Atlanta Office of Public Housing. The request indicated that a significant amount of net restricted assets was used to pay for items other than the required housing assistance payments. The purpose of the audit was to determine how the Authority expended its net restricted assets and what controls were…

HUD OIG performed an audit of Mortgage Counseling Services, Inc., a Federal Housing Administration approved non-supervised lender. The review was performed based on the lender’s high default rates. The purpose of the audit was to determine whether the lender followed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements for (1) borrower eligibility and creditworthiness and property eligibility when underwriting…