The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs upon receiving a hotline complaint.  The hotline complaint contained allegations that (1) HUD routinely fails to perform Endangered Species Act analysis or consultations; (2) there are many projects that have deficiencies in noise analysis and environmental assessment site factors; (3) the…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Englewood Apartments’ Project-Based Section 8 Rental Assistance program based on a request from HUD’s Region 7 Office of Multifamily Housing Programs.  HUD conducted a management and occupancy review in January 2018 to assess the overall quality of management and services provided in accordance with HUD guidelines and instructions.  Overall…

We audited the Lake View Towers Apartments’ Section 8 housing assistance payments program based on our analysis of risk factors related to multifamily projects in Region 5’s jurisdiction and the activities included in our fiscal year 2019 annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the management agent administered the project’s program in accordance with the owner’s contract with the U.S. Department of Housing and…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited CitiMortgage’s processing of partial claims.  Our audit objective was to determine whether CitiMortgage filed for partial claims only after completing the loan modifications and reinstating the loans. CitiMortgage improperly filed for 66 partial claims before completing the loan modifications and reinstating the loans. The Federal Housing…

We audited MB Financial Bank, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender, as part of our efforts to protect the integrity of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) single-family housing mortgage insurance programs.  We selected MB Financial for review based on an analysis of underwriting and default data maintained by HUD.  Our objective was to determine whether MB Financial…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) resident home-ownership program grant for Lakeview East Cooperative (project) based on the results of a risk assessment of multifamily housing programs in Region 5’s jurisdiction (States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin).  The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2017 audit plan.  Our objective was to determine whether…

We audited the Stone Terrace Apartments’ Section 8 housing assistance payments program based on a citizen’s complaint alleging mismanagement of its housing assistance payments contract.  The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2017 annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the management agent administered the project’s program in accordance with the owner’s contract with the U.S. Department of…

We audited Alpine First Preston Joint Venture II, LLC, a contracted asset manager in HUD’s real estate-owned Management and Marketing III program, as part of the activities included in our 2017 annual audit plan and because it was the sole contractor to market and sell U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) owned properties located in Illinois. Our audit objective was to determine whether Alpine complied with its contract with…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois’ Eastern Division, conducted a joint review of the former president and founder of MDR Mortgage Corporation. MDR Mortgage provided annual verifications to HUD in 2006, 2007, and 2008, certifying that none of its…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Section 8 housing assistance payments program of the New Horizons project in Kansas City, MO.  Our objective was to determine whether New Horizons properly verified tenants’ eligibility, requested assistance only for tenants living in the units, retained tenant files for the required period, and properly collected and deposited tenant rents…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), reviewed preforeclosure sales under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program in the St. Louis, MO, area.  We found that the purchaser of a property being sold in a preforeclosure sale entered into a consulting agreement with the realtor.  The agreement required that when the purchaser later sold the property, he would pay half of the…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Majestic Management, LLC, located in St. Louis, MO. Our objective was to determine whether Majestic Management charged only the appropriate fees in managing the projects, properly procured goods and services, and disbursed project funds only for eligible and supported expenses. Majestic Management improperly charged fees to its projects, did not…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) resident home-ownership program grant for West Park Place Condominium (project) based on the results of a risk assessment of multifamily housing programs in Region 5’s jurisdiction (States of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin) and the activities in our fiscal year 2016 annual audit plan.  Our objective was to determine whether the West Park…

We audited Mortgage Services III, LLC, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender, as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2016 annual audit plan.  We selected Mortgage Services for review based on an analysis of data in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Single Family Data Warehouse system  for single-family lenders with home offices in Region 5’s jurisdiction. …

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), reviewed preforeclosure sales under the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program in the St. Louis, MO, area.  We found that a realtor purchased a property in January 2010 using a limited liability company he controlled while also acting as the seller’s agent.   On October 23, 2015, HUD served a complaint on the realtor, alleging…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited James B. Nutter & Company, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) lender located in Kansas City, MO.  We selected James B. Nutter based on data analysis showing that the servicer might be completing foreclosures faster than the industry standard, which would suggest that it might not be fully using HUD’s loss mitigation tools.  Our…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Resident Homeownership Program grant for Carmen-Marine Apartments (project).  The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2015 annual audit plan.  We selected the project based on a request from HUD’s Chicago Multifamily Housing Hub.  Our objective was to determine whether the Carmen-Marine Cooperative and management agent operated the project in…

HUD OIG assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of Illinois, in the investigation of Lakeview Sheridan, LLC, and Fremont Sheridan Properties.  Lakeview Sheridan is a multifamily property located in Chicago, IL, and Fremont Sheridan was the management company for Lakeview Sheridan.  Under section 223(f) of the National Housing Act, HUD insured the mortgage on Lakeview Sheridan in May 2006 through its Federal Housing…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited Berkadia Commercial Mortgage, LLC’s underwriting of the loan to fund the renovation of the Temtor project in St. Louis, MO.  We initiated this audit because the project failed quickly after completion, resulting in a large loss to the Federal Housing Administration insurance fund.  Our audit objective was to determine whether Berkadia properly…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General completed an audit of Windridge Apartments in Wichita, Kansas.  We selected Windridge Apartments based on a referral from the Region 7 Office of Multifamily Housing due to high tenant receivables and excessive travel expenses.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether Windridge Apartment Associates, L.P., (1) followed HUD rules and…