We audited HUD and its grantees’ monitoring of subrecipients and contractors in HUD’s Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG-CV) program to assess subrecipient monitoring in the program.  ESG and ESG-CV grantees often rely on subrecipients and contractors to carry out ESG-CV-funded activities on behalf of the grantees, and are required to monitor subrecipients to ensure that the purpose of…

We performed a review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring and tracking of Continuum of Care (CoC) grantees that have been slow to spend their grant funds.  Our objectives were to determine whether HUD was effectively tracking and monitoring CoC grant spending and to determine the impact of COVID-19 on CoC grantee spending. HUD generally tracked and monitored its grantees; however, it did not…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act program. Our audit objective was to determine what challenges grantees faced in using program funds for activities that prepare for, prevent, or respond to the coronavirus and its impact.  We used a survey questionnaire to gather feedback and insight directly from 1,047 program…

We conducted this limited review to identify the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) drawdown levels for the initial round of Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) funding.  In addition, we researched information published by grantees on how they have used and will use their funds.  Our objective was to highlight the grantees’ (1) drawdown levels for…

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Continuum of Care Program (CoC) award review process based on an anonymous hotline complaint alleging problems with the CoC competitive award process.  The objective of our review was to determine whether HUD performed its CoC competitive review and award process in accordance with NOFA program requirements, focusing on ranking and scoring CoC projects.…

Topic briefs are a tool we use to keep officials within the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) informed of challenges so that its leadership can be better prepared to address them.  This topic brief describes our observations of the time it takes the Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) to complete risk-based scoring.  HUD implemented its risk analysis process to help CPD field offices identify and…

We initiated our audit in accordance with our strategic goal to provide the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) with services and products to address vulnerabilities, to provide opportunities for improvements, and to recognize positive outcomes.  The audit objective was to determine whether the HUD Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) monitored and ensured that its Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2013,…

We conducted an attestation review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Special Needs Assistance Continuum of Care, regarding drug control accounting and associated management assertions for fiscal year 2018.  As required by Federal statute 21 U.S.C. 1704(d), we reviewed HUD’s Report on Drug Control Accounting, including its written assertions.  Our responsibility is to express a conclusion on the…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Community Compass Technical Assistance and Capacity Building (Community Compass) program.  We conducted the audit because we received a complaint alleging that HUD did not ensure that the program operated in compliance with applicable requirements and we had not audited the program.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate…

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 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…

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 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 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 (…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of the disposition of real properties assisted with Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds.  We conducted the audit as part of our annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate controls over the disposition of real properties assisted with CDBG funds. We found that HUD could improve its oversight of the…

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…

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…

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…