We audited the State of Louisiana's (State) additional compensation grant (grant) component of the Road Home homeowner assistance program, managed by the State's contractor, ICF Emergency Management Services, LLC (ICF), in conjunction with the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Gulf Coast Region's audit plan and examination of relief efforts provided by the federal government in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and…

We audited the City of Tulsa's (City) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program due to a departmental request. Our initial objective was to determine whether the City expended CDBG funds in accordance with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules and regulations. Based upon the initial results, we modified the objective to determine whether the City ensured that its largest subrecipient, the Tulsa…

We audited the mortgage origination and business practices of the First Magnus Financial Corporation’s (First Magnus) corporate office in Tucson, Arizona. The objective of the audit was to determine whether First Magnus violated U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements by paying builders and real estate companies marketing fees and non-competition fees in exchange for the referral of Federal Housing…

We audited the Newark, Delaware, branch office (branch office) of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage (Wells Fargo). The branch office is mainly responsible for underwriting loans for 22 Wells Fargo sales branch offices in Pennsylvania. We selected the branch office because of its relatively high default rate, compared with the average default rate for the state of Pennsylvania. Our objective was to determine whether the branch office complied…

As part of our strategic plan objective to assist the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) efforts to reduce rental assistance overpayments, we audited the Dallas Housing Authority's (Authority) Housing Choice Voucher program (voucher program). Our objective was to determine whether the Authority properly administered its overall voucher program. The Authority acknowledged its longstanding weaknesses, as…

We audited the District of Columbia Housing Authority's (Authority) controls over its leased housing under its Moving to Work Demonstration program based on our analysis of various risk factors relating to the housing authorities under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Baltimore field office. This is the third of three audit reports on the Authority's program. The audit…

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD's administration of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) set-aside for colonias (colonia set-aside). We performed the review because of concerns that surfaced during an audit survey of the state of Texas's colonia set-aside funds. That review showed that HUD had not issued regulations or handbooks that required…

HUD OIG audited Meridian Lending, Inc., a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender. The objectives were to determine whether it followed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) requirements for (1) borrower eligibility and creditworthiness and property eligibility when underwriting loans and (2) implementing a quality control program. Meridian did not follow HUD requirements in…

We audited the Milford, Connecticut, branch office of Countrywide Bank, FSB (Countrywide), which is a supervised national bank approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to originate, underwrite, and service Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single-family insured loans. We selected the Milford, Connecticut, branch office largely based on a lender risk analysis, which showed that the loans it originated…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD's oversight of projects that opted out of the Section 8 program between January 1, 2004, and December 31, 2007. We reviewed the opt-out process because it involved large amounts of funds potentially not accounted for or remitted to HUD. With a few minor exceptions, HUD complied with applicable requirements while…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Allentown's (Authority) administration of its housing quality standards inspection program for its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of our fiscal year 2008 audit plan. This is our second audit report issued on the Authority's program. The audit objective addressed in this report was to determine whether the Authority adequately administered its Section 8 housing…

We reviewed Senior Reverse Mortgage Services, Incorporated (originator), a home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) originator. The originator originated loans for one of the largest lenders in Texas, Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation. Our objective was to determine whether the originator complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and adequately counseled borrowers and disclosed costs.…

We audited the mortgage origination and business practices of First Magnus Financial Corporation’s (First Magnus) corporate office in Tucson, Arizona. The objective of the audit was to determine whether First Magnus violated U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements by paying its brokers volume-based incentives for originating and processing Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgages. We determined that…

At HUD's request, we audited the Housing Choice Voucher program of the Richland Housing Authority (Authority). HUD was concerned about the results of an audit of the Authority performed by the Washington State Auditor's Office. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority made ineligible purchases with program funds. We found that the Authority did not track its program expenses. Also, it charged more than $57,000 in…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Calexico (Authority) in response to a request from our Office of Investigation and the FBI. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority complied with HUD's rules and regulations with respect to its public housing program. We found the Authority improperly used Section 5(h) program funds for the acquisition and operation of the Second Street Apartments. In addition, it (1)…

We completed an audit of Union County's (County) Housing Choice Voucher program, which is administered by its Division of Planning and Community Development. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the County's (1) Housing Choice Voucher program units met housing quality standards; (2) costs charged to the Housing Choice Voucher program were supported and eligible; and (3) controls over the Housing Choice Voucher…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority's (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program (program) under its Moving to Work Demonstration program. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2008 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based upon our analysis of risk factors relating to the housing…

We concluded that Single Family could improve the reliability of its process for reporting performance measure results. Single Family has a performance measurement process in place; however, it could make the process more reliable if it routinely evaluated data used for performance measure results and formally documented its structure and process for developing, monitoring, and reporting on performance measures. We recommended that HUD…