We conducted a review of the Chicago Housing Authority’s payments for outside legal services in conjunction with an ongoing internal audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing agencies’ expenditures for outside legal services.  Our review objective was to determine whether the Authority made payments for outside legal services in compliance with applicable requirements. We found that…

We audited Veterans First’s Supportive Housing Program (SHP) based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s Office of Investigation and a hotline complaint, alleging that Veterans First employees were directed to prepare false accounting documents.  Our objective was to determine whether expenditures Veterans First charged to its SHP grants and program fees it charged to…

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a limited review of the Oakland Housing Authority’s Moving to Work Housing Choice Voucher program’s use of exception payment standards exceeding the Authority’s 110 percent limit on fair market rents.  The review was initiated as a result of a congressional request alleging fraud, waste, and abuse by public housing agencies…

Because of concerns identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Public Housing, we performed a review of the Housing Authority of the City of Lockney.  HUD alleged that the Authority’s previous executive director had a conflict-of-interest and received ineligible payments.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing in accordance with HUD requirements and…

In accordance with our annual audit plan to review public housing programs and based upon our regional risk analysis, we reviewed the Covington Housing Authority’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its program in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and its administrative plan.  The Authority generally followed HUD’…

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).  We initiated the audit under the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan.  Our objective was to provide an overall assessment of NSP, including assessing the sufficiency of HUD’s controls and determining whether HUD had improved its controls as a…

Based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Seattle Office of Labor Relations, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed a review of certain payrolls of the owner of Civic Construction, LLC, of Portland, OR.   The payrolls were subject to the Davis-Bacon Act. We completed the review and referred alleged violations to HUD’s Office of Program Enforcement for action under the Program Fraud…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the City of Minot, ND’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery program because the City was awarded more than $67 million in CDBG Disaster Recovery funds in April 2012 and an additional $35 million in May 2013.  Before our audit, the City had spent more than $26 million and $1.3 million, respectively.  In addition, we…

We audited the State of Rhode Island’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) based on a risk assessment that considered the amount of funding, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) risk assessment, and HUD findings related to one of the State’s subrecipients.  Our overall audit objective was to determine whether the State properly administered the NSP and ensured that costs incurred were in accordance with HUD…

We audited the Chicago Housing Authority’s Moving to Work Housing Choice Voucher program as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 annual audit plan.  We selected the Authority based on a request from Congressman Aaron Schock and recent media attention regarding the Authority’s exception payment standards.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority complied with its Moving to Work agreement, the U.S. Department of…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s monitoring of the community service and self-sufficiency requirement (CSSR)  to determine the extent to which HUD subsidized public housing units occupied by noncompliant tenants and housing for tenants whose CSSR status was misreported. We found that HUD subsidized housing for 106,000 units occupied by noncompliant tenants, out of nearly…

We completed a review of the Rhode Island Housing’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program based on an Office of Inspector General risk assessment of New England HOME recipients that considered the amount of funding provided and prior audit and monitoring findings.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether Rhode Island Housing officials awarded HOME funds to grantees in a reasonable and supported manner and whether HOME funds were…

We audited New Image Emergency Shelter’s Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS (HOPWA) program based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General’s (HUD OIG) Office of Investigation and a citizen complaint, alleging that New Image lacked adequate documentation to support program expenditures and employee salaries. Our objective was to determine whether New Image administered and…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing agencies’ lobbying activities based on information we obtained while resolving recommendations from an audit of the Philadelphia Housing Authority which showed that the Authority engaged in lobbying activities that it failed to disclose.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD oversight was adequate to ensure that public housing…

We audited the County of Beaver, Beaver Falls, PA’s administration of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds.  We audited the County because we received a complaint alleging misuse of Federal funds resulting from a potential conflict of interest involving a County employee.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the County administered its HOME program in…

Based on a hotline complaint and additional work by our Financial Audit Division and Office of Legal Counsel, we reviewed whether a conflict of interest existed within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH). Specifically, former PIH Assistant Secretary Sandra B. Henriquez appointed Debra Gross, a former lobbyist and the deputy director of the Council of Large Public Housing…

Preliminary Research Closeout Memorandum In 2011, HUD established a high priority goal to reduce vacancies through improved management of the public housing inventory. Since then, HUD has substantially reduced vacancies, saving taxpayer dollars and enhancing the availability of habitable rental units. Subsidized vacancies, measured in unit months, have decreased from approximately 550,000 in 2011 to approximately 379,000 currently. The…

We audited the Office of the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs’ Section 108 Loan Guarantee program as part of our strategic plan and based on the deficiencies noted during our recent review of Municipal Affairs’ Section 108 Loan Guarantee program, concerning the slow progress of the Vieques Sports Complex project (Audit memorandum number 2014-AT-1801, issued March 20, 2014).  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether Section…

We completed a review of the Freeport Housing Authority’s administration of its low-rent housing and homeownership programs.  We selected the Authority due to a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) New York Office of Public and Indian Housing officials.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its low-rent housing and homeownership programs in accordance with…

We completed a review of the City of New York, Office of Management and Budget’s administration of the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Assistance (CDBG-DR) funds awarded to the City as a result of damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.  This review was related to the disbursement of $183 million as reimbursement to the Health and Hospitals Corporation under the City’s Public Service activity.  The objectives of the…