We audited the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (program) at the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (Department) because it was the second largest single program grant awarded within California under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). In addition, our audit is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) national mandate to monitor…

We audited the Compton Housing Authority’s (Authority) Section 8 program as the result of the Los Angeles Office of Public Housing’s concerns regarding its program administration. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority used Section 8 program funds in accordance with HUD rules and regulations. The Authority did not use Section 8 program funds in accordance with HUD rules and regulations as it did not fully comply with portability…

While performing an internal audit of the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program, we noted one HECM loan underwritten by Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation, (Financial Freedom) of Irvine, CA, that was improperly insured as the property had several years of deferred property taxes, which is a violation of the HECM regulations. Neither Financial Freedom’s loan…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City and County of San Francisco’s (Authority) Section 8 housing quality standards inspections of Housing Choice Voucher program (voucher)-funded housing units. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority conducted its housing quality standards inspections in accordance with HUD rules and regulations. We found that the Authority did not conduct its housing quality standards inspections of…

We reviewed the City of Montebello’s (City) HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Los Angeles Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD). The request was based on findings contained in a 2008 single audit report and 2009 HUD CPD technical assistance report, which stated that the City did not fully comply with HOME program requirements in the ongoing…

We audited the Sacramento Housing Redevelopment Agency (Agency) as a result of a hotline complaint, which alleged violations of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (program) funds provided through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Our objective was to determine whether the alleged violations had merit. The complaint alleged several instances where the Agency did not follow program rules and regulations, including but not limited to…

We completed a capacity review of the City of Los Angeles’ Housing Department’s (City) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (Program). We performed the review because Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) reviews are part of our annual audit plan and the program was identified as high risk. We previously audited several different aspects of the City’s HOME Investment Partnerships program, all of which disclosed significant monitoring…

We completed a capacity review of the County of San Bernardino’s (County) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (Program). We performed the audit because Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 reviews are part of the Office of the Inspector General’s annual audit plan and the Program was identified as high risk. In addition, the County was awarded significant Program funds of $22.7 million. Our objective was to determine whether the County…

We completed a capacity review of the City of Fresno’s (City) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (Program). We performed the audit because Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 reviews are part of the Office of the Inspector General’s annual audit plan and the program was identified as high risk. In addition, the City was awarded a $10.9 grant. Our objective was to determine whether the City had sufficient capacity and the necessary…

We completed a capacity review of the County of Riverside’s (County) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (Program). We performed the audit because Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 reviews are part of the Office of the Inspector General’s annual audit plan and the program was identified as high risk. In addition, the County was awarded significant Program funds of $48.6 million. Our objective was to determine whether the County had…

We performed a review of the Lutheran Gardens Corporation (Corporation) trust fund account in response to a HUD request, dated March 30, 2009. HUD believed that as much as $2.72 million was withdrawn from a trust account in violation of a trust agreement (agreement) with HUD, dated April 22, 2005, and questioned certain disbursements. Our objective was to determine whether the Corporation withdrew and expended trust funds in accordance with…

We audited the City of Los Angeles’ Community Development Department (City) as a result of problems noted during a prior audit involving activities administered by the Community Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles (subrecipient). Our objective was to determine whether Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds were administered in accordance with HUD’s requirements for the CDBG program as they relate to a specific subrecipient…

We audited the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (City) as a result of two complaints alleging violations of affordable housing and low-income housing tax credit regulations at the NoHo Commons housing development (development), which was partially funded with HOME funds and administered by the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles (subrecipient). Our objective was to determine whether the alleged violations had merit and warranted…

We performed a review of the San Diego Square (Square) project in response to a hotline complaint. The complainant stated that San Diego Kind Corporation (Corporation) misappropriated a lease prepayment of $480,060 and HUD failed to enforce program rules and regulations after detecting the misappropriation. Our objective was to determine whether the complaint was valid. We were unable to determine whether the allegations were valid. The…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Richmond’s (Authority) procurement activities. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority followed procurement requirements. We found that the Authority could not adequately support that procurement activities were conducted in accordance with applicable requirements. As a result, it could not demonstrate that contracts were awarded to vendors whose proposals were most advantageous to…

In accordance with our goal to review funds provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), we conducted a capacity review of Warm Springs Housing Authority’s (Authority) operations. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority has the capacity to adequately administer Recovery Act funding. Our limited review found no evidence indicating the Authority lacks the capacity to administer its Recovery Act…

We completed a capacity review of the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission’s (County) Neighborhood Stabilization Program. We performed the audit because Housing and Economic Recovery Act reviews were part of the Office of the Inspector General’s annual audit plan and the program was identified as high risk. In addition, the County was awarded significant Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds of $16.8 million. Our objective…

We audited the State of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (State) to determine the basis and method used to allocate its $145 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grant funds. Our objective was to determine whether the methodology the State used in allocating its NSP grant funds was logical, equitable, and in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The State…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Long Beach’s (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The Authority was selected based on its having received low housing quality standards indicator scores for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 under HUD’s Section Eight Management Assessment Program in addition to a lack of recent on-site reviews by HUD. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority conducted housing…

We reviewed the City of Oakland’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program to determine whether it administered its program in accordance with federal requirements and its own policies and procedures. We selected the City for review due to its large annual HUD funding and because it had not been the subject of an OIG audit for several years. The City did not always administer its HOME program in accordance with federal requirements and its own…