The City did not expend Brownfields and Section 108 funds awarded for the development of the project in accordance with HUD requirements. Specifically, the City used loan and grant funds for an ineligible project and expended grant funds after the grant deadline. As a result, it expended (1) $3.8 million in loan funds on an ineligible project, (2) $625,000 in grant funds on an ineligible project after the grant expenditure deadline, and (3)…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited the East St. Louis Housing Authority’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Housing Capital Fund program. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority (1) complied with applicable procurement requirements and properly managed its Recovery Act contracts, (2) properly drew down and expended funds for eligible activities, and (…

We audited the Springfield Housing Authority’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus formula grant. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2011 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based upon our analysis of risk factors relating to the housing agencies in Region V’s jurisdiction. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its grant in accordance with…

We audited the City of Modesto’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). We performed the review because it was part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) audit plan to conduct audits of NSP2 under the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. We selected the City because it received $25 million and HUD’s San Francisco Office of Community Planning and Development requested that OIG consider a review of the City. Program funds…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited Pioneer Civic Services, Inc’s Supportive Housing Program and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) competitive grants. We selected Pioneer based on a request by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development. Our audit objective was to determine whether Pioneer effectively…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General audited Countrywide Bank, FSB (Countrywide),* a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) supervised lender** approved to originate, underwrite, and submit mortgages for insurance under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) direct endorsement program. We selected Countrywide based on its average default-to-claim rate of 6.76 percent for the FHA-…

We conducted a review to determine whether IndyMac Bank followed Federal Housing Administration (FHA) policies and procedures when it originated FHA-insured loans. We focused on loans secured by California properties and that were in claim or default status as of February 12, 2009. Within this group, we identified a set of questionable loans originated by IndyMac that had been generated by Beechwood Incorporated. Beechwood is a company…

We reviewed alleged violations of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan origination requirements by the subject. We concluded that the subject falsely certified to the truthfulness and accuracy of documents and information in mortgage loan applications on FHA-insured loans. The Department of Justice filed a complaint under the Financial Institutions Reform, Recovery, and Enforcement…

We reviewed alleged violations of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan origination requirements by the subject. We concluded that the subject made false statements on a mortgage loan application for one property, and falsely acted as the seller of a second property on behalf of another person. The Department of Justice filed a complaint under the Financial Institutions Reform,…

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Public Housing Capital Fund formula and competitive grants. We performed the audit because Recovery Act reviews are part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan and the Los Angeles Office Public Housing’s 2011 risk assessment rated the Authority as high risk based on data from the Authority’s most recent Real Estate…

We audited the Tule River Indian Housing Authority in response to a complaint involving the Authority’s alleged misuse and improper procurement of $303,721 in Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Native American Housing Block Grant funding to be used for cabinet construction work on 38 of its housing units. Our overall objective was to determine whether the Authority followed procurement and contracting requirements and used its Recovery Act…

We audited the City of Compton’s (City) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) in response to a citizen complaint generally alleging misuse of HOME funds by the Community Redevelopment Agency (subrecipient) administering the program, including allegations stating that more than $4 million in HOME funds was missing and that program objectives were not met. Our audit objective was to determine the validity of the complaint allegations,…

We reviewed alleged violations of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) real estate-owned (REO) owner-occupancy program requirements by the subject (name withheld for privacy reasons). We concluded that the subject failed to comply with the HUD REO program requirement that an individual who purchases a REO home during its initial offering period must be the owner-occupant of the purchased home for one full year. In April 2011…

We audited the Rockford Housing Authority’s (Authority) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) Public Housing Capital Fund Stimulus Formula and Competitive grants. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2011 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based on a citizen complaint. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its grants in accordance with Recovery Act and U.S.…

We completed an audit of the Housing Authority of the County of Monterey’s (Authority) administration of more than $2.9 million in Capital Fund Recovery Grant funding as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered the procurement and contracting of its grant funds in accordance with HUD laws and regulations. The Authority did not administer the procurement and…

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles’ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act Capital Fund formula grant. We performed the audit because Recovery Act reviews are part of the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan and because the Authority was the fourth highest overall recipient of Recovery Act capital funds in California. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered the…

We audited Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans underwritten by Prospect Mortgage, LLC (Prospect), within Region IV of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG). Our objective was to determine whether Prospect complied with HUD’s requirements for (1) origination and underwriting relative to cash assets, income, and creditworthiness; (2) quality controls; and (3) branch office…

We reviewed the books and records of Saint Timothy’s Tower (project), a 114-unit U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-insured (Section 236) Section 8 multifamily project consisting of 1 high-rise elevator building located in Compton, CA. We initiated the review in response to a request from the Departmental Enforcement Center due to its concerns about the owner’s use of project funds. Our objective was to determine whether…

We audited the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) of People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) and three of its subgrantees based on the results of a separate audit of the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (Department). HPRP is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), and auditing the Recovery Act program is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of…

We reviewed the hazard-damaged units that the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (Authority) is rehabilitating using formula grant American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) Public Housing Capital Fund program (program) funds. We selected the Authority based upon the results of our capacity review of the Authority’s Recovery Act program (see Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit report #2011-LA-1002, issued…