We audited the West Village Expansion Project in Durham, NC, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 220-insured property, due to a citizen’s hotline complaint. The anonymous complainant alleged that the managing member of the project’s ownership entity spent an excessive amount of project funds on legal fees, transferred more than $500,000 to another entity owned by it, and failed to keep the mortgage current. Our…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, in conducting a review of MortgageIT, Inc. MortgageIT is a residential mortgage banking company headquartered in New York City, NY. Originally founded in 1988, MortgageIT was acquired by Deutsche Bank in 2007, and was a HUD-approved Title II nonsupervised mortgage company. Its home…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a review of loans underwritten by Countrywide Home Loans Inc., and its divisions Countrywide Bank FSB and Countrywide Mortgage Ventures, LLC. The objective of the review was to determine whether Countrywide underwrote Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans in accordance with HUD-FHA regulations. Countrywide is a subsidiary of Bank of…

We audited the public housing program of the Housing Authority of the City of Hickory, NC, due to a citizen’s hotline complaint. Our objectives were to evaluate the merits of the complaint allegations and determine whether the Authority complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements for procurement, cash disbursements, a 2004 Resident Opportunity and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) grant, and inventory control. The…

We completed a review of the New York City Housing Authority’s use of Federal funds. We selected this auditee based on a hotline complaint, case number HL-2011-0705, which alleged a pattern of waste, overspending, and abuse by the Authority. Specifically, the complaint alleged that the Authority (1) froze its Section 8 vouchers due to lack of available funds, (2) overpaid at least one housing manager with an annual salary of $187,000, (3)…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial, Incorporated) we reviewed Bank of America’s foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other four reviews.…

We audited the City of Syracuse, NY, pertaining to its Economic Development Initiative (EDI)-Special Project grants. The audit objective was to determine whether City officials were administering EDI Special Project grants effectively, efficiently, and economically in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether City officials expended EDI funds for eligible activities that were fully…

We selected the tribe for audit because it received a $4.7 million formula grant and a $4 million competitive grant, the largest Native American Housing Block Grants awarded in North Carolina under the Recovery Act. Our objective was to determine whether the tribe administered its Native American Housing Block Grants in compliance with Recovery Act and other applicable requirements, specifically, whether it had (1) expended funds on a timely…

We audited the operations of the City of Syracuse, NY, pertaining to its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the City administered its CDBG program effectively, efficiently, and economically in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether City officials had (1) established and implemented the necessary controls to ensure that…

We audited the Greensboro Housing Authority (Authority) as part of our annual plan to review public housing capital funds awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The Authority received a $5.6 million Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus (formula) Recovery Act Funded grant, the second highest in the State. It also received a Recovery Act funded $1.05 million capital fund competitive grant for addressing…

We conducted a review of the City of Dunkirk, NY (City), pertaining to its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). We selected this auditee based on a congressional interest inquiry received by the Recovery Act Transparency and Accountability Board and forwarded to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (…

We completed an audit of the operations of the City of Buffalo, NY (City), pertaining to its administration of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City (1) administered its CDBG program effectively, efficiently, and economically in accordance with applicable rules and regulations, and (2) expended CDBG funds for eligible activities that met a national objective of the program…

We audited Westbeth Artists Houses (auditee) in response to a complaint submitted to the Office of Inspector General (OIG) hotline alleging that project funds were used to pay an executive director in violation of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations. Our audit objectives were to assess the merits of the complaint and determine whether project operations generally complied with HUD regulations pertaining to…

We completed the fifteenth audit report in our ongoing review of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery Assistance funds provided to the State of New York in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. During the audit period, October 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010, LMDC…

At the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Greensboro, NC, Director of Community Planning and Development, we reviewed Mecklenburg County’s (County) administration of its Shelter Plus Care program (program). Our objectives were to determine whether the County paid for only eligible program administrative expenses; housed its participants in decent, safe, and sanitary units; and properly documented its program…

HUD OIG audited the Housing Authority of the City of Wilson’s (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. We elected to perform the audit after finding indicators of Section 8 deficiencies during our review of the Authority’s capacity to administer capital funds awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Audit Report 2010-AT-1007). Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority complied with U.S.…