We audited the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (program) at the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (Department) because it was the second largest single program grant awarded within California under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). In addition, our audit is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) national mandate to…

We audited the Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP)-Ike as part of our ongoing commitment to the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to implement oversight of Disaster Recovery funds to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. HUD used local public housing agencies (housing agencies) to administer DHAP-Ike rental assistance and provide case management services to families affected by Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. Our audit…

We audited the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer’s (procurement office) procedures for administering completed and expired contracts in compliance with applicable regulations. Our objective was to determine whether the procurement office performed contract closeout procedures on completed and expired contracts in a timely manner. We expanded our objective to determine whether the contract files were complete and properly maintained. We…

We performed an audit of HUD's Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control (OHHLHC) grant program for Lead Hazard Reduction Demonstration (LHRD). Our audit was initiated based on a complaint to the hotline alleging that the managers of OHHLHC changed the scores assigned by the application review panel to award grants to applicants that were not ranked high enough to receive funding under the 2009 NOFA. Our objective was to determine…

We evaluated HUD’s Credit Watch Termination Initiative (Credit Watch) to determine whether it was used effectively to deter deficiencies and substandard performance in Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single-family lending.  We also sought to determine whether Credit Watch could be manipulated, allowing lenders to avoid HUD’s scrutiny and program sanctions.  While we noted a past instance in which a lender manipulated the Credit…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Office of Lender Activities and Program Compliance, Quality Assurance Division. We did this review because during a prior audit, we saw instances in which indemnification agreements were not obtained from lenders under certain circumstances. Our objective was to determine whether the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had…

We audited the Compton Housing Authority’s (Authority) Section 8 program as the result of the Los Angeles Office of Public Housing’s concerns regarding its program administration. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority used Section 8 program funds in accordance with HUD rules and regulations. The Authority did not use Section 8 program funds in accordance with HUD rules and regulations as it did not fully comply with portability…

While performing an internal audit of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, we noted one HECM loan underwritten by Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation, (Financial Freedom) of Irvine, CA, that was improperly insured as the property had several years of deferred property taxes, which is a violation of the HECM regulations. Neither Financial Freedom’s loan…

We audited HUD’s internal control structure for ensuring that American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) recipient data are reported completely, accurately, and in a timely manner. We also determined whether material omissions and significant errors were identified correctly. We conducted this audit as part of a joint effort among the Inspector General community under oversight of the Recovery Accountability and…

We completed an audit of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Single Family Program Development Office’s automated underwriting process. We assessed whether HUD had in place appropriate and effective management controls over its automated underwriting process. The audit was performed as part of the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan and supported the audit plan objective to contribute…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco’s (Authority) Section 8 housing quality standards inspections of Housing Choice Voucher program (voucher)-funded housing units. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority conducted its housing quality standards inspections in accordance with HUD rules and regulations. We found that the Authority did not conduct its housing quality standards inspections of…

We performed an internal audit of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program because we found that an increasing number of borrowers had not paid taxes or homeowners insurance premiums as required, thus placing the loan in default. Also, we noted that HUD had granted foreclosure deferrals routinely on defaulted loans, but it had no formal procedures. Our audit objective was to…

We performed an audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) property and equipment. We performed this audit as a result of recurring findings relating to HUD’s property and equipment reported in the fiscal years 2004 through 2008 management letters. Our objective was to determine whether HUD properly recorded and tracked the acquisition and disposal of its capitalized and other accountable property and equipment. We…

We conducted a national audit of whether public housing authorities overpaid voucher subsidies to multifamily property owners in specific types of subsidized properties. If a public housing authority pays a property owner a subsidized rent at one of these types of properties, the voucher rent should be set at the level of the rent payments to the subsidized multifamily properties, which generally is lower than the public housing authorities’…

In response to a request from the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (Board), we performed a review of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) guidance to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) recipients to post signs, logos, and emblems intended to publicly identify the expenditure of Recovery Act or "stimulus" funds. The Board was asked by Congressman Darrell Issa, ranking member of the…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Title II single-family lender renewal process. The objective of the audit was to determine whether FHA ensured that lenders submitted recertification requirements in a timely manner. We found that FHA did not ensure that lenders submitted recertification forms, annual fees, and/or audited financial…

We conducted the audit of the Retreat at Santa Rita Springs (community), a Federal Housing Administration-insured multifamily property under the Section 231 of the National Housing Act, in response to a congressional request from Representative Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th Congressional District of Arizona. In November 2009, the owners of the community defaulted on its $29.9 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-…

We reviewed the City of Montebello’s (City) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Los Angeles Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD). The request was based on findings contained in a 2008 single audit report and 2009 HUD CPD technical assistance report, which stated that the City did not fully comply with HOME program requirements in the ongoing…

We evaluated the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) award process for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). We initiated the review as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan. Our primary objective was to determine whether HUD’s methodology and controls for the evaluation and selection of applications for the $1.93 billion in NSP2 funds were in accordance with applicable requirements. We…

We audited the Sacramento Housing Redevelopment Agency (Agency) as a result of a hotline complaint, which alleged violations of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (program) funds provided through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Our objective was to determine whether the alleged violations had merit. The complaint alleged several instances where the Agency did not follow program rules and regulations, including but not limited…