We audited the City of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s (City) community planning and development program. On March 6, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the City $1.1 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) for its community planning and development program. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget directed the Inspectors General to perform audits to ensure that funds…

We audited the State of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (State) to determine the basis and method used to allocate its $145 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grant funds. Our objective was to determine whether the methodology the State used in allocating its NSP grant funds was logical, equitable, and in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The State…

HUD OIG audited the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program administered by the City of Miami, Florida (City). The objective of the audit was to determine whether the City administered its CDBG program in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The City did not administer its CDBG program in accordance with applicable HUD requirements. It did not comply with HUD requirements in…

We performed a limited review of the Washoe County HOME Consortium (Consortium) because it received an allocation of more than $4.6 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding as a subgrantee of the State of Nevada. Our objective was to determine whether the Consortium had sufficient capacity and had established adequate methodologies to implement the NSP requirements in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

For the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) front-end risk assessment (FERA) for the new Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing program (HPRP), we wanted to determine whether the FERA complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act); the Recovery Act’s streamlined FERA process; and HUD Handbook 1840.1, REV-3, Departmental Management…

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General audited the City of Thornton (City) to determine whether it used its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds for projects that met a national objective. The City did not maintain sufficient records demonstrating that each CDBG activity met a national objective. Of the 10 CDBG projects reviewed, the City sufficiently documented that five of the projects…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General audited the City of Cincinnati's (City) Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan. We selected the City based upon the results of our three previous audits of the City's HOME Investment Partnership Program (HOME). Our objective was to determine whether the City had the capacity…

We reviewed Bank of America's (servicer) home equity conversion mortgage (HECM) servicing division located in Seattle, Washington. Bank of America is one of the largest lenders of HECM mortgages for properties located in the five southwest states in the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Region VI jurisdiction. Our objective was to determine whether the servicer complied with HUD regulations, specifically,…

We audited the Newark, Delaware, branch office (branch office) of J.P. Morgan Chase bank (J.P. Morgan Chase), a supervised direct endorsement lender approved to originate Federal Housing Administration (FHA) single-family mortgage loans. We selected the branch office because its default rate was above the state’s average default rate. Our objective was to determine whether J.P. Morgan Chase complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers (Grace Hill). Our audit objective was to determine whether Grace Hill properly charged payroll and support expenses to the grants. We concluded that Grace Hill charged unsupported salary and benefit costs to the grants because it did not require grant staff to properly track their time. Additionally, Grace Hill…

We audited single-family loan originations at Eagle Home Mortgage (Eagle Mortgage), located in Kirkland, Washington, to determine whether it originated Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. Eagle Mortgage did not always originate FHA insured loans in accordance with HUD requirements. Specifically, Eagle Mortgage did not follow HUD's…

We audited Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation (Financial Freedom) as part of our annual audit plan objective of improving the integrity of single-family insurance programs. Our objective was to determine whether Financial Freedom complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) origination requirements for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, commonly known as a reverse mortgage. Financial Freedom generally…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program grantees under the jurisdiction of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland, Community Planning and Development (CPD) field offices as part of our annual audit plan. The audit objective was to determine whether those offices adequately monitored their CDBG program grantees to ensure that they…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Midwest Mortgage Capital (Midwest). Our audit objectives were to determine whether Midwest followed HUD requirements for underwriting loans and performing its quality control program for single-family production. We concluded that Midwest did not properly underwrite 7 of the 29 defaulted loans reviewed. These loans had material underwriting…

We conducted an audit of the City of Houston’s (City) Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program, which is managed by its Housing and Community Development Department (Department), as part of our strategic plan and regional goals. Our objective was to determine whether the City and its project sponsors complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) HOPWA regulations, requirements and its grant agreements.…

As part of the our plan to review the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (program), we reviewed whether the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Disaster Recovery Grant Reporting system (DRGR) can collect program data at the level of detail necessary to adequately monitor the program. We limited the review to the program established by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. However, HUD will also use DRGR for the…

HUD-OIG audited the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program administered by Miami-Dade County, Florida (County). The objective of the audit was to determine whether the County administered its CDBG program in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The County did not administer its CDBG program in accordance with applicable HUD requirements. It did not comply with HUD requirements…

HUD-OIG audited the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program administered by Miami-Dade County, Florida (County). The objective of the audit was to determine whether the County administered its CDBG program in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The County did not administer its CDBG program in accordance with applicable HUD requirements. It did not comply with HUD requirements…

We audited the City of Reading's (City) asset control area program as part of a nationwide audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) monitoring of program participants. Our objective was to determine whether the City administered its asset control area program in compliance with HUD requirements. We focused our review on whether the City complied with specific requirements in its asset control area agreement…

We completed an audit of the City of Rome, New York's (City), administration of its economic development activity known as General Cable under its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The objectives of our audit were to determine whether the City (1) administered this economic development activity effectively, efficiently, and economically in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)…