The Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) traditionally uses onsite monitoring to monitor its grantees.  However, in response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, CPD shifted to 100 percent remote monitoring.  Monitoring was momentarily paused in fiscal year (FY) 2020 and was reinstituted remotely in FY 2021. To support its remote monitoring approach, CPD launched the Grantee Document Exchange (GDX), an externally…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP) based on our report on HUD’s top management challenges for fiscal years 2020 through 2022 and HUD’s strategic goals and objectives reported in its strategic plan for 2018 through 2022.  Our audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of HUD’s SEMAP as a performance measure for the Housing Choice Voucher (HCV)…

We found 13 properties with consecutive REAC scores below 60 that were missing the required flags in HUD’s Active Partners Performance System (APPS) for unacceptable physical condition.  This condition occurred because HUD did not have a quality control program to ensure that the account executives manually entered the flags into APPS and there was no automated process for flagging a property once it received the second consecutive below-…

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s drug control accounting for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022.  We performed this review pursuant to section 705(d) of Public Law 105-277, which requires National Drug Control Program agencies to submit to the Director of ONDCP a detailed accounting of all funds spent by the agencies for National Drug Control Program activities during the…

We performed a review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring and tracking of Continuum of Care (CoC) grantees that have been slow to spend their grant funds.  Our objectives were to determine whether HUD was effectively tracking and monitoring CoC grant spending and to determine the impact of COVID-19 on CoC grantee spending.HUD generally tracked and monitored its grantees; however, it did not prioritize…

We audited the Long Branch Housing Authority based on the results of our previous audits of the Asbury Park and Red Bank Housing Authorities, which received management services and technical assistance from Long Branch for several years. The objective of the audit was to determine whether Long Branch properly handled income and expenses associated with its agreements with Asbury Park and Red Bank in accordance with requirements. Long Branch…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) (ESG-CV) program. Our audit objective was to determine what challenges ESG-CV grant recipients faced in implementing the program and using grant funds. We used a survey questionnaire to gather feedback and insight directly from the 362 recipients of ESG-CV grants. At the time we…

We audited the Housing Authority of Plainfield, NJ’s administration of its public housing programs.  We selected the Authority based on a risk analysis of public housing agencies in New Jersey that considered the size of the agency, the amount of operating and capital funds received, and previous work conducted by the Office of Inspector General.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its public housing agencies’ (PHA) reasonable accommodation policies and procedures.  We initiated this audit because we identified an increase in housing discrimination complaints based on a failure to provide a reasonable accommodation, even as the total number of all housing discrimination complaints was decreasing.  Our audit objective was to…

We audited the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program.  The audit was initiated because of the homelessness crisis in the City of Los Angeles, which has the highest number of unsheltered people in the United States.  In addition, the Los Angeles city controller issued a report in 2019, criticizing the Authority for falling short of City of Los Angeles homeless outreach goals.  (See Background…

We audited the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority’s management of its Commodore Perry Homes development.  We selected the Authority based on congressional interest.  Half of the development’s buildings were demolished more than 20 years ago, and the majority of the remaining buildings and units have been vacant for years without redevelopment activity.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority properly…

We conducted this evaluation due to the growing homeless crisis and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) establishing a goal of ending homelessness.  Our objective was to evaluate the challenges that participating public housing agencies (PHA) face in meeting the goals and objectives of the HUD Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (VASH) program. The results from our limited review may help HUD in addressing PHAs’…

We conducted a limited review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act supplemental public housing operating funds (supplemental funds).  Our objective was to assess public housing agencies’ (PHA) experiences and challenges and HUD’s efforts in providing guidance related to the administration of the supplemental operating funds under the CARES Act. We found…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of voucher utilization and reallocation in the Housing Choice Voucher Program based on the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) report on HUD’s top management challenges for fiscal year 2020 and HUD’s strategic goals and objectives reported in its 2018-2022 strategic plan.  In addition, while responding to a congressional inquiry from Senator Chuck…

We prepared this memorandum to provide the Office of Housing at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) information regarding the opportunity to promote a homeless waitlist preference at Multifamily Housing rental assistance properties.  HUD has an opportunity to revisit the promotion and marketing of its homeless waitlist preference and the importance of partnering with a homeless service provider.  Additionally,…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Public and Indian Housing’s (PIH) Office of Field Operations’ (OFO) oversight of public housing agencies’ (PHA) compliance with implementing HUD’s smoke-free policy. We initiated the audit in accordance with our strategic plan and our vision to support HUD’s efforts to achieve quality and safer housing. Our objective was to determine whether OFO ensured that the…

We audited Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County’s (NHSLA) Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2).  The audit was based on a complaint alleging questionable NSP2 financial activity, double payments to contractors, and payments to contractors for incomplete work.  Our Office of Audit received the referred complaint in late 2018.  However, because the complaint included concerns regarding activities and auditee…

We conducted this limited review to identify the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) drawdown levels for the initial round of Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) funding.  In addition, we researched information published by grantees on how they have used and will use their funds.  Our objective was to highlight the grantees’ (1) drawdown levels for…

We audited the City of Compton’s Neighborhood Stabilization Programs (NSP) 1 and 3 due to a referral made by our Office of Investigation because of concerns related to ongoing issues at the City and complaints received about the City’s administration of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds. In addition, HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development rated the City as high risk for administering program funds in…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s effort to provide oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) relief efforts provided by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act), we reviewed HUD’s communication to renters regarding the eviction moratorium found in Section 4024.  The objective of our review was to highlight the progress HUD has made and identify areas for improvement.…