The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited the Helena, MT Housing Authority in response to a hotline complaint alleging a former employee of the housing authority improperly released housing choice voucher holders’ personally identifiable information.  The objective of our review was to determine whether the allegation had merit. A former Authority employee did improperly release personally…

We audited the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority’s Indian Housing Block Grant (IHBG).  We conducted the audit primarily due to concerns raised by HUD’s Southwest Office of Native American Programs regarding the Authority’s financial management practices.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority used its IHBG funds in accordance with HUD requirements. The Authority failed to use its IHBG funds in…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Fort Belknap Indian Community (Fort Belknap) because HUD’s Northern Plains Office of Native American Programs received information indicating financial irregularities in the administration of Indian Housing Block Grant (block grant) funds. The objective of the audit was to determine whether Fort Belknap administered its Federal funds in a manner…

In response to an April 3, 2009, hotline request from the Kaibab Band of Paiute Indians, Pipe Spring, AZ (Kaibab), the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD’s evaluation of Kaibab’s application for an Indian Community Development Block Grant (Indian Block Grant) under HUD’s 2008 notice of funding availability. The review objective was to evaluate the merits of the complainant’s…

We conducted a capacity review of the Navajo Housing Authority’s (Authority) operations. The objective of the review was to evaluate the Authority’s capacity to administer its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) funds and identify related potential internal control weaknesses that could impact its ability to properly administer the funds. We did not find evidence indicating that the Authority lacked the basic capacity to…

We performed a capital fund administrative capacity review of the Housing Authority of the City of Eloy (Authority) because, despite the Authority’s persistent management problems, HUD awarded the Authority a Public Housing Capital Fund grant of $113,672 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Our objective was to determine whether the Authority had sufficient capacity to administer its Recovery Act Public…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Public Housing field office in Phoenix, Arizona (Public Housing). The objective of the audit was to determine whether Public Housing’s procedures for monitoring the Nogales Housing Authority (Authority) were effective. The audit was started because Public Housing performed several monitoring reviews at the Authority; however, there were indications that some of…

We performed a corrective action verification of HUD's actions in implementing recommendation 1F from our audit of the Housing Authority of Maricopa County's Mixed Finance Development Activities (Rose Terrace and Maricopa Revitalization), Audit Report 2005-LA-1002, issued March 14, 2005. The purpose of the corrective action verification was to determine whether HUD officials appropriately closed audit recommendation 1F in accordance…

We audited the City of Phoenix Housing Department’s (Housing Department) Housing Choice Voucher program. We conducted the audit as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan. The Housing Department was selected for review because it is the largest housing authority in the state of Arizona and had not previously been audited by OIG. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Housing Department supported tenant…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Eloy (Authority) because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) had rated the Authority as troubled for five years. In 2007, the Authority had significant financials problems and terminated its executive director. We determined that the Authority did not have adequate internal controls to safeguard assets and reasonably ensure that HUD funds were used in accordance with…

We audited Salish and Kootenai Housing Authority (Authority) as part of our review of the Office of Native American Programs' guidance on calculating program income for the United States Housing Act of 1937 (1937 Act) housing projects assisted by the Native American Housing Assistance and Self Determination Act of 1996 (NAHASDA). The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority calculated program income for NAHASDA-assisted…