We audited Gloucester Township, NJ's administration of its Community Development Block Grant funds that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We selected the Township for an audit because we received two complaints alleging that it misused stimulus funds and overpaid for services and because of our mandate to audit Recovery Act activities. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Township obligated…

We audited the National Community Reinvestment Coalition’s (grantee) compliance with provisions in its Fair Housing Initiatives Program grant agreement with the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The audit was conducted based on a congressional request, which raised questions regarding the grantee’s compliance with conflict-of-interest provisions in its grant agreement with HUD. Our objective was to determine whether the…

In response to a request for review from the Office of the Department Operations and Coordination, we are auditing the Office of Labor Relations (Labor Relations) wage restitution and deposit process. We found Labor Relations has weak internal controls over their Deposit account. Our objective was to gain an understanding of the deposit process and determine whether the controls used to administer and distribute restitution payments were…

We audited the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer’s (procurement office) procedures for closing out completed and expired Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) contracts in compliance with applicable regulations. This audit was part of our audit plan for fiscal year 2010. Our objective was to determine whether the procurement office performed timely closeouts on completed and expired Ginnie Mae contracts. The procurement…

We audited the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer’s (procurement office) administration of interagency agreements (IAAs). This audit was part of our fiscal year 2010 audit plan because of congressional hearings on the use and management of IAAs throughout the Federal Government. Our objective was to determine whether the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) effectively administered its IAAs and the costs to procure these…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) process for hiring employees in accordance with Office of Personnel Management (OPM) guidelines. The audit was initiated due to concerns about whether HUD addressed the staffing needs of its Homeownership Centers in a timely manner to address significant increases in single family mortgage workload. Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD effectively hired…

We audited the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer’s (procurement office) procedures for administering completed and expired contracts in compliance with applicable regulations. Our objective was to determine whether the procurement office performed contract closeout procedures on completed and expired contracts in a timely manner. We expanded our objective to determine whether the contract files were complete and properly maintained. We…

We performed an audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) property and equipment. We performed this audit as a result of recurring findings relating to HUD’s property and equipment reported in the fiscal years 2004 through 2008 management letters. Our objective was to determine whether HUD properly recorded and tracked the acquisition and disposal of its capitalized and other accountable property and equipment. We…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Administration's internal controls over the processing of personnel actions in response to an anonymous complaint received by our office. Our objectives were to determine why (1) human resource actions were not processed in a timely manner, (2) employee requests to waive the automatic collection of payroll overpayments were not processed before collection…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD's management of human resources. We initiated the review based on our annual audit plan and our strategic plan to help HUD resolve its major management challenges. The review also addressed a complaint to our Hotline regarding the adequacy of HUD's Total Estimation and Allocation Mechanism (TEAM) system. Our objectives were to…

We performed a limited scope audit of the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to determine whether the Office complied with the requirements of 42 U.S.C. (United States Code) Chapter 45, Subpart I, Section, 3616a(d), entitled Fair Housing Intiatives Program, Education and Outreach, when it published the 2007 Fair Housing Initiatives Program notice of funding availability. The audit disclosed that the Office generally complied with the…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Gary's (Authority) Section 8 housing program. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2005 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based upon a risk analysis the identified it as having a high risk Section 8 housing program. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority managed its Section 8 program in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

NEWARK, N.J. – The Department of Justice announced today that it has filed a lawsuit alleging that the owner of rental properties in Elizabeth, New Jersey, violated the Fair Housing Act by subjecting tenants to sexual harassment, U.S. Attorney Craig Carpenito announced. The complaint alleges that Joseph Centanni, who owns hundreds of rental units in and around Elizabeth, has subjected tenants and applicants to sexual harassment on multiple…

Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney John H. Durham today announced that the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office have filed a lawsuit in the District of Connecticut alleging that female tenants and applicants of residential rental properties in and around New London, Connecticut, were subjected to sexual harassment, coercion, intimidation and threats,…

The urgency in post-disaster recoveries often leads State and local officials to work to quickly restore infrastructure and public services and help make repairs. Such urgency can sometimes result in cutting corners with CDBG program requirements. However, grantees and sub-recipients that do not follow all CDBG program requirements may be forced to repay Federal funds.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), and the Office of the Chief Procurement Officer have identified an ongoing fraud scheme intentionally targeting small businesses, large corporations, government vendors, and contractors for the purpose of obtaining electronic equipment such as laptops, mobile phones, hard drives, digital projectors, solar panels, and other high-value merchandise. The…