The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Majestic Management, LLC’s management agent activities for the public housing program at the East St. Louis Housing Authority.  Our objective was to determine whether Majestic Management made only eligible and supported payments for payroll, complied with procurement requirements, and properly performed initial tenant certifications and annual…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of disaster grantee procurement processes.  We conducted the audit after prior audits identified procurement issues.  Our objective was to determine whether HUD provided sufficient guidance and oversight to ensure that disaster grantees followed proficient procurement processes when purchasing products and services. HUD did not provide sufficient…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development’s administration of Economic Development Initiative – Special Project and Neighborhood Initiative congressional grants.  This review was prompted by our Financial Audit Division’s 2012 review, which reported that HUD did not have effective controls to monitor its obligated congressional grant funds.[1]  Our audit…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed the allegations contained in a hotline complaint against the Washington County Department of Housing Services, Hillsboro, OR, to determine whether its application and related submissions to secure HUD grant OR0216L0E061500 were false or misleading or would otherwise cause the Clover Court project to be ineligible for Continuum of Care funding. We…

We audited the City of New York’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded Public Housing Rehabilitation and Resilience Program.  Our objective was to determine whether the City had established adequate controls to ensure that it followed U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal, and City requirements when disbursing disaster funds under its program.  We found that the City generally had…

We audited the public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs at the Housing Authority of the City of Hartford, CT, as a result of a hotline complaint alleging potential noncompliance with procurement requirements.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority complied with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Federal procurement requirements and the Authority’s procurement policy. The…

We audited the Office of the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs’ (OCMA) Puerto Rico State Community Development Block Grant program.  We selected OCMA for review based on concerns regarding the slow progress of the Municipality of San Sebastian’s fine arts center.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether OCMA effectively used State Block Grant funds on a fine arts center that met a national objective of the program and…

We audited the State of New York’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded Non-Federal Share Match Program.  We conducted this audit because the State had used approximately $223 million for the program as of December 2016 and a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) review of the program had identified weaknesses related to compliance monitoring and recordkeeping.  Our objective was to determine…

Very low REAC scores are not prevalent across ORCF’s portfolio.  The majority of RCFs that received a REAC score scored at least 80 on their last inspection, and more than three quarters scored at least 60.  Despite the small percentage of RCFs that scored below 31, we noticed an overall decline in REAC inspection scores across ORCF’s portfolio from 2000 to 2016. REAC has adopted an inspection process that applies uniformly to all…

We audited the Fort Bend County Community Development Department based on our risk analysis and as part of our annual audit plan to review Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) funds.  The audit objective was to determine whether the Department (1) properly carried out its activities as shown in its submission to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in an economical, efficient, and effective manner; (2)…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited public housing agency compliance with HUD’s flat rent requirements.  We initiated this audit based on multiple external audits conducted by the HUD Office of Inspector General, which showed that housing authorities were unaware of or did not properly implement the flat rent requirements.  Our objective was to determine whether housing…

We audited the City of New Orleans’ HOME Investment Partnerships program in response to a citizen complaint alleging that the City did not monitor its HOME-assisted projects and in accordance with our annual audit plan.  Our objective was to determine the validity of the complaint allegations and whether the City administered its HOME program in accordance with Federal and HUD requirements. We found that complaint had merit as the City did…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant program’s direct home-ownership assistance activities.  We conducted the audit because it was included in our audit plan based on recent HUD, Office of Inspector General, audits that found issues with home-ownership assistance in the HOME Investment Partnerships program.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had…

We audited the Chukchansi Indian Housing Authority (Authority) Indian Housing Block Grant program due to a hotline complaint.  The complaint alleged that the Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians (tribe) had overstated tribal enrollment numbers to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), resulting in its tribally designated housing entity, the Chukchansi Indian Housing Authority, receiving more funding than it should…

HUD OIG assisted U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York in a civil investigation related to illegal-undocumented aliens  receiving Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) assistance.  The HOPWA program at 24 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 574 is a HUD Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) grant program that provides formula allocations and competitively awarded grants to eligible States…

We audited the Lexington Housing Authority’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion.  We selected the Authority based on concerns from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) North Carolina State Office of Public Housing and a request from the Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its RAD program in accordance with HUD…

We audited the Housing Choice Voucher and public housing programs at the West Warwick Housing Authority as a result of concerns from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and a hotline complaint.  The audit objectives were to determine whether (1) procurements were executed in accordance with Federal regulations, (2) West Warwick officials established adequate controls over the Housing Choice Voucher and public housing…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the Denver Housing Authority of Denver, CO for calendar years 2013-2015.  The audit was initiated because of deficiencies found in other procurement audits in our region.  The Authority is the largest recipient of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in the region, and we wanted to ensure that it did not have the…

We audited the City of Albuquerque’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program based on our risk analysis and as part of the Office of Inspector General’s annual audit plan to review community planning and development funds.  The audit objective was to determine whether the City administered its CDBG program in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The City did not always properly…

We audited the State of New Jersey’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded Sandy Homebuyer Assistance program.  We conducted the audit because (1) it was the State’s only home-buyer assistance program, (2) the State had spent a high percentage of its allocated funds, and (3) reviews performed by the State auditor and the State’s disaster recovery integrity monitor identified potential issues.  Our objective was to…