We audited BLM Companies LLC, a contracted field service manager in HUD’s real estate-owned Management and Marketing III program, as part of the activities included in our 2017 annual audit plan and because it was the sole contractor performing property preservation and protection services for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-acquired properties located in Ohio.  Our audit objective was to determine whether…

We conducted an audit of BLM Companies LLC’s controls and performance under its Management and Marketing III program field service manager contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for area 1D.  Area 1D included HUD real estate-owned and custodial properties in New Mexico, North Texas, Utah, and Colorado.  During the audit period, BLM held 7 of 18 HUD field service manager contracts throughout…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Village North Apartments in Salt Lake City, Utah based on concerns that surfaced during another assignment when it appeared as though Village North might have moved tenants in and out of units and collected housing assistance payments for them without changing the social security numbers or birthdates for the new tenants.  The…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the University Village, LLC in Orem Utah based on previous violations identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that found ineligible withdrawals and substandard physical conditions at the property.  The objective of our audit was to determine whether University Village complied with its HUD multifamily…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) investigated alleged violations of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations by RANlife, Inc.  We reviewed the single-family FHA loan files processed by RANlife to determine whether it complied with HUD’s rules and regulations in originating, underwriting, and endorsing the loans for FHA insurance. On November, 23, 2015, RANlife…

Based on a request from the Assistant U.S. Attorney’s Office in Salt Lake City, UT, we provided information about single-family lenders with high default rates. We then reviewed the available case binders for 38 loans for which the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) had paid claims that were underwritten by City First Mortgage Services, LLC. We completed the review and referred alleged violations to the U.S. Department of Housing…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake Public Housing Capital Fund grants for fiscal years 2011-2014.  We initiated this audit due to the amount of funding the Authority received during our review period.  The Authority is the highest funded public housing agency in the State of Utah.  The objective of our audit was…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Utah Housing Corporation to determine whether the Corporation properly determined that borrowers were eligible to participate in FHA’s Preforeclosure Sale Program. We selected the Corporation because it had more preforeclosure sales than regular foreclosures, placing it at the top of our risk assessment for Region VIII. The…

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…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the Utah Housing Corporation in response to a hotline complaint. The complaint contained allegations that the Corporation commingled funds from the FHA first mortgages and the downpayment assistance second mortgages and serviced the second mortgages before the FHA first mortgages by using the first mortgage payments to pay the second…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited Mountain States Mortgage Center to determine whether it underwrote insured loans in compliance with HUD requirements and whether its quality control plan met HUD requirements. Mountain States underwrote 41 loans that did not comply with FHA requirements. Of the 41 FHA-insured loans reviewed, one of the loans had a significant underwriting…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, reviewed Blue Mountain Hospital (Hospital) based on a request from the Office of Healthcare Programs. The objective of our review was to determine whether the Hospital had adequate written procedures for collecting, dispersing, and accounting for project funds. The Hospital did not have adequate written procedures for collecting, disbursing, and…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, We reviewed the Housing Authority of the County of Salt Lake’s (Authority) Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus (formula) Recovery Act Funded grant (grant) based on a risk assessment we completed and the results of a monitoring review performed by the Denver Office of Public Housing. The objective was to determine whether the Authority properly…

We audited the Avesta Housing Management Corporation (Avesta), located in Portland, ME, in response to a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Manchester, NH, Office of Housing field office. The request came after the completion of an Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of the Orchard Court project. Avesta was the previous manager of Orchard Court and is the current manager of 30 other HUD…

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General reviewed the City of Ogden, UT’s (City) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) to determine whether the City effectively established HOME projects, ensured that HOME funds were used for eligible HOME expenses, and properly monitored the HOME projects. The City appropriately established HOME projects, used HOME funds for eligible HOME…

In accordance with our goal to review and ensure the proper administration of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds provided under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and/or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), we conducted a capacity review of the operations of the State of Maine’s (State) Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of Community Development (Department). The…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited SecurityNational Mortgage Company (SecurityNational), a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender, to determine whether it properly underwrote insured loans and whether its quality control function met requirements. SecurityNational did not follow HUD regulations when underwriting 18 FHA-insured loans.…

We performed an audit of the Orchard Court project, a Section 236 multifamily property, located in Bath, Maine. As part of our audit, we reviewed subsidy payments made to Orchard Court from Bath and Brunswick, Maine, Housing Authorities (Authorities). Our objective was to determine whether Section 8 voucher program subsidies paid to Orchard Court from the Authorities were for basic rent, rather than market rent. Basic rent is the…

We audited the Orchard Court project, located in Bath, Maine, in response to a referral received by the Office of Inspector General's (OIG) Office of Investigation (Region 1). The referral indicated a potential inappropriate use of project funds by the Orchard Court Housing Corporation (project owner) and/or the management agent. Our overall objective was to determine whether the project owner and/or management agents operated the…

We audited the HOME Investment Partnerships program (HOME) administered by the Maine State Housing Authority, Augusta, Maine (Authority), as part of our annual audit plan. The Authority received more than $21 million in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding for its federal HOME program from 2005 to 2007. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its HOME program in compliance with…