We audited the City of New York’s Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Reconstruction of Public Facilities Program.  We selected this program for review because the City had allocated nearly $91 million to the program and disbursed more than $59.6 million as of October 31, 2017, and as part of our ongoing oversight of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Disaster Recovery programs.  Our objective was to determine…

We audited Hamilton County’s subrecipient agreement with People Working Cooperatively, Inc. (corporation), for a Community Development Block Grant-funded housing repair services program based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Columbus Office of Community Planning and Development concerning information the Office received regarding the program, which it did not have the resources to review.  The…

We audited the City of Erie, PA’s Community Development Block Grant program because we received a complaint regarding its code enforcement program and we had not audited the City’s program since 1997.  The complaint alleged that the City targeted low- to middle-income residents in certain neighborhoods requiring expensive repairs to their homes and properties, which could result in legal actions and liens if the homeowners did not make…

We audited HUD’s oversight of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds used for Section 108 repayments.  This audit was part of our annual audit plan.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether HUD effectively monitored the use of CDBG funds in repaying Section 108 loans and whether it was feasible to enact a threshold or maximum amount of CDBG funds that grantees may use to repay loans. HUD’s oversight of the use of…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant code enforcement program due to results from our external audits, which showed that grantees did not adequately understand and failed to ensure compliance with program requirements.  Our audit objective was to determine (1) whether HUD’s code enforcement guidance under its Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) Notice CPD-…

We reviewed the State of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.  We selected the State of Florida in accordance with our goal to review disaster funding and based on a congressional request for us to conduct disaster capacity reviews for recent disasters, including Hurricanes Hermine, Matthew, and Irma.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the…

We audited the State of Connecticut’s Small Cities Community Development Block Grant program based on an Office of Inspector General risk assessment, which ranked the State as the highest risk grantee in Connecticut.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the State ensured that its grantees properly administered their housing rehabilitation programs.  We also assessed various complaints made against the program to determine…

We conducted this evaluation to determine the effectiveness of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) privacy program   We assessed the adequacy of agency strategies, plans, controls and practices at the enterprise and program levels.  We also examined the level of progress achieved since we last evaluated the program in 2014. We found that HUD had updated its privacy impact assessment processes, and took a…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Compass and Technical Assistance and Capacity Building program due to a complaint specific to the Continuum of Care (CoC) and homeless portion of the program.  The complaint alleged that the Office of Special Needs Assistance Programs had been steering technical assistance notice of funding availability applicants toward coordinating or subcontracting with a…

We audited the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program, based on an Office of Inspector General risk assessment and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) concerns.  The objective of our audit was to determine whether the Agency used the City of Sacramento’s CDBG funds in accordance with HUD requirements and adequately monitored its subrecipients.  The Agency…

As part of our annual risk and internal planning process, we audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Block Grant Assistance’s (OBGA) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery program.  Our analysis noted that Congress had historically provided disaster funding through supplemental appropriations, yet OBGA had not created a formal codified program.  Instead, it had issued multiple…

We audited the City of Modesto’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.  We selected the City based on a hotline complaint (HC-2017-2082) regarding the City’s rehabilitation program and the U.S. Department of Housing Development’s (HUD) and the HUD Office of Inspector General’s risk assessments.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the City used CDBG funds in accordance with HUD requirements, focusing on its…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) risk assessment and monitoring of its grantees.  We initiated this assignment due to significant findings previously reported, which showed that CPD did not have effective risk assessment or monitoring of the State Community Development Block Grant program at either the field office or national level. …

We audited the City of Providence RI’s HOME Investment Partnerships program based on an OIG risk assessment, which ranked the City as the highest risk HOME grantee in New England.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the City properly committed and disbursed HOME funds in accordance with Federal and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules and regulations. City officials did not properly administer their…

On December 21, 2017, smoke spread from a malfunctioning air-handling unit on the 11th floor to parts of many other floors.  While a smoke detector in an air duct functioned properly and the fire department was notified, there was no audible alarm or public announcement to notify occupants to evacuate. People in one suite described the smoke as “heavy” and “thick.” HUD and the General Services Administration believe that the fire safety…

We audited the City of Margate’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grants 1 and 3 in accordance with our audit plan to improve the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) execution of and accountability for grant funds.  In addition, HUD requested that we review this auditee because a forensic investigation initiated by the City found issues with record keeping, misappropriation of funds, and overages regarding City…

We performed the 22nd review of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery funds awarded to the State of New York in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether LMDC administered its Disaster Recovery-funded Lower…

We audited the City of Dallas’ HOME Investment Partnerships program, specifically, its reconstruction program.  A City auditor’s report, multiple news articles, and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) monitoring reviews identified issues with the City’s Federal funds and record keeping.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the City followed HOME regulations and its own policies and procedures when it…

We reviewed the Texas General Land Office in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General’s (HUD OIG) goal to review disaster funding and based on a congressional request for HUD OIG to conduct capacity reviews for Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria grantees.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the State of Texas had the capacity to follow Federal procurement regulations when…

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Special Needs Assistance Continuum of Care Program, regarding reporting of drug control accounting and associated management assertions for fiscal year 2017.  The objective of our attestation review was to and to provide negative assurance on HUD’s drug control accounting reporting to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (…