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Report Fraud, Waste and Abuse
June 07, 2008
2008-CH-1009
ig0851009.pdf

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited Cook County's (County) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (Program). The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2007 annual audit plan. We selected the County based upon our analysis of risk factors relating to Program grantees in Region V's jurisdiction. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the County effectively administered its Program income and administrative costs and followed HUD's requirements. This is the second of three audit reports on the County's Program.

The County did not effectively administer its Program income and administrative costs and failed to follow HUD's requirements. It did not comply with HUD's requirements in its use and reporting of Program income. As a result, the County had nearly $5.2 million of Program income in its HOME investment trust fund local account (local account), did not allocate at least $641,000 of interest earned from Program income in its local account, and underreported at least $2.7 million of Program income in HUD's Integrated Disbursement and Information System (System).

The County did not comply with HUD's requirements in using Program funds for administrative costs. As a result, it used more than $28,000 in Program funds for improper administrative costs and lacked sufficient documentation to support its use of nearly $56,000 in Program funds for eligible Program administrative costs.

We recommend that the Director of HUD's Chicago Office of Community Planning and Development require the County to commit and disburse Program income, unallocated interest earned from Program income, and reimbursed Program funds before drawing down any additional Program funds from its HOME trust fund treasury account (treasury account), provide support or reimburse its Program from nonfederal funds for the unsupported payments, provide sufficient documentation as to whether it earned interest from Program income before September 2002, and report its additional Program income in HUD's System. We also recommend that the Director restrict the County's ability to drawdown Program funds from its treasury account until the County disburses all Program income, unallocated interest earned from Program income, and reimbursed Program funds as cited in this report.