The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG-R) Program of the City of St. Louis, MO. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City complied with applicable Recovery Act requirements for CDBG-R funds and properly reported its Recovery Act activities. We found that the City did not comply with…

We audited the Allegheny County Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program because (1) the Authority received more than $27.3 million in Housing Choice Voucher funding in fiscal year 2011, (2) an article in the October 22, 2011, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described housing quality standards problems with a housing unit participating in the Authority’s program, and (3) we had never audited the Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program.…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of the Inspector General (OIG) audited HUD’s Public Housing Capital Fund program and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) Capital Fund program monitoring procedures because it was included in our annual audit plan and was prompted by a prior external audit (OIG audit report 2011-LA-1802, issued May 5, 2011). Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s Capital…

We conducted an audit of the City of Long Beach because it was awarded more than $22.2 million in Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2) funds on February 11, 2010 as the lead agency in a consortium with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles (Habitat), making it one of the largest NSP2 fund recipients in the Los Angeles area. Our objective was to determine whether the City of Long Beach…

We completed a corrective action verification of the recommendations made to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) pertaining to our review of The City of Newburgh, NY’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee program, Audit Report 2009-NY-1001, which was issued November 7, 2008. The purpose of the corrective action verification was to determine whether the audit recommendations…

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Wichita, KS, Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program. We selected the Authority for review because it received more than $12 million in Section 8 funding in both 2011 and 2010. Also, it is one of the largest housing authorities in Kansas and had not been reviewed by HUD OIG. Our audit objective was to determine whether the…

We audited the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority’s Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus (Formula) program funded under the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 based on an Office of Inspector General risk analysis and the amount of funding the Authority received. The objectives of the audit were to determine whether Authority officials (1) procured contracts in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)…

Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. Our objectives were to determine whether the State ensured that (1) Recovery Act disbursements to local governments were eligible and supported and (2) Program participants were eligible to receive assistance in accordance with Program requirements. The State generally ensured that its Recovery Act disbursements to local governments were eligible. However, some of the disbursements were…

We audited Little Haiti Housing Association as a result of a complaint received regarding its administration of the multifamily activity funded under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). Our objective was to determine whether Little Haiti used NSP2 funds in compliance with Federal regulations. Specifically, we focused on determining whether (1) Little Haiti complied with Federal regulations when selecting and using the developer,…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD’s receivership of the East St. Louis Housing Authority based on the length of receivership and issues identified during recent external audits. Our objective was to determine whether HUD effectively oversaw and managed the recovery and turnaround of the Authority during the three-year period ending in September 2011. HUD did not effectively…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the Aurora Housing Authority’s Recovery Act formula grant. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2012 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based upon our analysis of risk factors related to the housing agencies in Region V’s (see footnote) jurisdiction. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its grant…

We audited the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) administered by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs. We selected the Department based upon the large amount of NSP1 funding that it received, more than $101 million. Our objective was to determine whether the Department complied with NSP1 requirements for obligations, expenditures, program income, monitoring, and…

We audited the City of Elizabeth, NJ’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in support of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to contribute to improving HUD’s execution of and accountability for its fiscal responsibilities. We selected the City after completing a risk analysis of CDBG grantees administered by the HUD Newark, NJ, field office. This assessment…

In accordance with our goal to review Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 grantees and because of weaknesses identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) initiated a review of the City of San Antonio’s activities funded by its Neighborhood Stabilization Program 1 grant. The objective was to determine whether the City administered its grant in accordance with program…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the Hammond Housing Authority’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus formula and competitive grants. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2012 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based upon our analysis of risk factors related to the housing agencies in Region V’s jurisdiction.…

We completed a review of the Oakland Housing Authority in response to a hotline complaint alleging that the Authority engaged in various questionable functions involving its inspection services. The objective of the review was to determine whether the complaint allegations against the Authority were valid. Most of the allegations against the Authority were generally not valid. However, we found indications that 13 of the 19 housing units…

As part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan, we audited HUD’s controls over the Section Eight Management Assessment Program (SEMAP). Our objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate controls to ensure that SEMAP effectively assessed public housing agencies’ Section 8 administration. HUD had not developed adequate controls to ensure that SEMAP would be effective…

We audited the Jefferson Parish Housing Authority as part of our annual audit plan to review public housing programs. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and other requirements. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether the Authority (1) complied with procurement requirements and (2) ensured that its expenditures were eligible and…

We audited the City of Newark, NJ’s administration of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1), funded under Title III of Division B of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, in support of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to improve the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) execution of and accountability for its fiscal responsibilities. We selected the City based upon a risk assessment that…

We audited the City of Houston’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery downpayment assistance program. The program allowed the City to provide up to $45,000 in downpayment assistance for homebuyers in low to moderate income areas within the City limits. We initiated the audit as part of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan to implement oversight…