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…

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…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the City of Seattle’s Community Development Block Grant- Recovery (CDBG-R) program to determine whether the City used its CDBG-R funds in accordance with HUD and Recovery Act requirements and subgrantee expenditures were appropriate, eligible, and supported. We selected the City for review because it received $3.26 million in CDBG-R funds, more than…

We audited the City of Philadelphia, PA’s administration of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 grant that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as part of our fiscal year 2012 audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether the grantee administered the grant in accordance with Recovery Act and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We found that the grantee generally…

We completed a review of the City of Phoenix’s (City) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grants NSP1 and NSP2. We performed the review because it supports the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s strategic plan to contribute to the oversight objectives of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the City received a $60 million grant as one of 56 NSP2 grantees. Our objective…

We audited the Los Angeles Neighborhood Housing Services’ Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). We performed the audit because American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 reviews are part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan and Neighborhood Housing Services was awarded $60 million in Recovery Act NSP2 funds in a consortium agreement with 12 other organizations on February 11, 2010. Our audit objective was to…

HUD OIG performed an audit of the State of Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs, Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) in Montgomery, AL, to assess issues raised in a hotline complaint. The complaint alleged that the State of Alabama misused its NSP1 funds by not following the regulations and statutes governing the NSP1 program to ensure that it used program funds for eligible and supported purposes. The State was awarded a…

The Director of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Oklahoma City Office of Community Planning and Development requested that we perform a corrective action verification of recommendation 1B in audit report 2008-FW-1012, The City of Tulsa, OK, Allowed Its Largest Subrecipient To Expend $1.5 Million in Unsupported CDBG Funding. We expanded the review to include recommendation 1C. The purpose of the review was to…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the State of Michigan’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program administered by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2011 annual audit plan. We selected the State based upon our designation of the Program as high risk and citizens’ complaints to our office. Our objective was to determine…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless in response to a hotline complaint. The complaint contained allegations regarding control weaknesses, resulting in noncompliance with Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) requirements. The objective of our review was to determine whether the allegations of weaknesses in the Coalition’s…

We audited Mountain CAP of WV, Inc.’s administration of its Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program funds. We selected Mountain CAP for audit because of a complaint alleging that controls over its disbursements were weak. Our audit objective was to determine whether Mountain CAP maintained proper financial management of and accountability for its program to ensure that it used the funds according to the American Recovery and…

The City did not expend Brownfields and Section 108 funds awarded for the development of the project in accordance with HUD requirements. Specifically, the City used loan and grant funds for an ineligible project and expended grant funds after the grant deadline. As a result, it expended (1) $3.8 million in loan funds on an ineligible project, (2) $625,000 in grant funds on an ineligible project after the grant expenditure deadline, and (3) an…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the State of Wisconsin’s Department of Commerce’s Lead-Based Paint Hazard Control program under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2011 annual audit plan. We selected the State for review based on a citizen’s complaint forwarded to our office from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s…

We audited the City of Syracuse, NY, pertaining to its Economic Development Initiative (EDI)-Special Project grants. The audit objective was to determine whether City officials were administering EDI Special Project grants effectively, efficiently, and economically in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether City officials expended EDI funds for eligible activities that were fully supported…

We audited the City of Newark, NJ’s Homelessnes Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) in support of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to review the expenditure of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds and contribute to improving HUD’s execution and accoutability of fiscal responsibilites. The audit objective was to determine whether City of Newark officials…

We audited Luzerne County, PA's administration of its Community Development Block Grant funds that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We selected the County for an audit because we received a complaint alleging that the County may have misappropriated Block Grant funds and because of our mandate to audit Recovery Act activities. Our audit objective was to determine whether the County obligated, expended…

We completed an audit of the City of Buffalo, NY (City) pertaining to its administration of its supplemental Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We selected the City based on concerns identified in our completed audit of the City’s CDBG program, Audit Report Number 2011-NY-1010 issued April 15, 2011. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City…

We audited Housing Our Communities’ (subrecipient) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) subgrant from the City of Avondale. The audit was started primarily because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General’s (HUD OIG) audit plan includes objectives to review Housing and Economic Recovery Act grantees and because a previous HUD OIG audit of the City of Mesa found indications that the subrecipient did…