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 Bank2’s origination of Section 184 Loan Guarantees for Indian Housing program loans.  We selected Bank2’s Section 184 program because (1) an internal audit report and corrective action verification determined that the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) lacked proper oversight of the program and lenders did not underwrite loans in accordance with HUD requirements 2) Bank2 is one of the largest Section 184…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Columbia Housing Authority in Columbia, MO because it was the only public housing agency in the State of Missouri that had converted units under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s RAD program at the time.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority maintained auditable written records of resident relocation incentive…

We audited the Pell City and Ragland Housing Authorities’ financial operations.  We began our review of Pell City and Ragland because it aligns with a goal in our annual audit plan to improve the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) execution of and accountability for grant funds.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Pell City Housing Authority complied with HUD’s regulations regarding the management…

On April 17, 2018, the Office of Program Enforcement issued a letter stating that it had reached a resolution under a Program Fraud Civil Remedies Act of 1986[1] case regarding Summit Bradford Apartments located in Tulsa, OK, following its review.  The Government alleged that the owner submitted 40 false claims under the Act.  The Office of Program Enforcement included with its letter the March 28, 2018, settlement agreement with BSR…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), audited the Kansas City, MO, Health Department’s Lead Safe KC program due to increased media attention on lead-based paint poisoning in the Kansas City area.  Further, we had never conducted an audit of the more than $21.6 million in grants received by the Health Department since 1997.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Health…

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 the City of Birmingham, AL’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grant.  We selected the City for review based on concerns by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Birmingham Office of Community Planning and Development in regard to the City’s administration of its disaster recovery program.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City ensured that (1)…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Tulsa’s administration of its Section 8 program.  We selected the Authority based on reports generated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Enterprise Income Verification system (EIV).  The Authority had indicators of noncompliance with program requirements.  Specifically, EIV reported an annualized income discrepancy of more than $1.6 million for 328…

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…

We audited the City of Tuscaloosa, Alabama’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) grant.  We selected the City for review because it was allocated more than $43 million in funding to recover from the tornadoes of April 2011.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the City of Tuscaloosa (1) ensured that only eligible projects were selected into the program, (2) ensured that funds were expended only for…

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 State of Oklahoma because it received $93.7 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) allocations for presidentially declared disasters that occurred in 2011, 2012, and 2013.  The substantial amount of CDBG-DR funding required a review of the State’s program.  Our objective was to determine whether the State obligated and spent its grant in accordance with requirements.  The State…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida in a civil investigation of Regions Bank.  Regions Bank has its principal place of business in Birmingham, AL, and became a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender in 1985.  As a direct…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the City of Joplin, MO’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program because the City was awarded more than $45 million in CDBG-DR funds in April 2012 and received an additional $113 million in May 2013. We previously audited the City’s CDBG-DR program in 2013 and issued audit report 2014-KC- 1002. At that time, the City…

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…

We audited the Mobile Housing Board’s financial operations.  We selected the Housing Board based on concerns from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Alabama State Office of Public Housing, following a Real Estate Assessment Center (REAC) financial assessment of the Housing Board for fiscal years 2009 to 2013.  The REAC assessment showed that the Housing Board’s financial condition had deteriorated over those…

We audited the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s use of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds in accordance with the Office of Inspector General’s goal to ensure the integrity and soundness of HUD’s Public and Indian Housing programs and to follow up on weaknesses identified in other reviews.  The audit objective was to determine whether the Nation complied with HUD requirements when it housed families and procured contracts…

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…