The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed a review of The Retreat at Church Ranch bank records based on our audit conducted of the project.  Our review disclosed that the owner allegedly made payments for personal expenses from the project’s bank account.  We requested that HUD pursue proceedings against the owner. On July 22, 2015, HUD notified the owner of his proposed…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed a review of The Retreat at Church Ranch bank records based on our audit conducted of the project.  Our review disclosed that the owner allegedly made payments for personal expenses from the project’s bank account.  We requested that HUD pursue proceedings against the owner. On March 31, 2015, HUD filed a complaint seeking more than…

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) conducted an audit of Opportunity in Living (OIL), Centennial, CO’s participation in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Single Family Property Disposition program.  Our audit objective was to determine whether OIL’s purchase of HUD-owned homes during the exclusive listing period violated HUD regulations at 24 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) Part 291.  We determined that…

We audited Broward County’s Continuum of Care Program, which was awarded more than $21 million in the 2011 through 2013 grant years. The objectives were to determine whether Broward County (1) spent grant funds for eligible program activities and ensured that expenditures were sufficiently supported and (2) maintained sufficient documentation to support that the funding sources used to match the grant funds were eligible. Broward County…

We audited the State of Florida’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program because the State was awarded more than $107 million to recover from the 2008 natural disasters and to undertake activities and long-term strategies that focus on reducing future natural disasters.  Further, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, had not audited the State since 2006.…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the City of Colorado Springs’ Community Initiatives and Economic Vitality Division based upon findings identified in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, memorandum number 2014-DE-1802.  The objectives of our audit were to determine whether the City properly committed its HOME Investment…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the City of Colorado Springs’ Community Initiatives and Economic Vitality Division based upon findings identified in U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, memorandum number 2014-DE-1802.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the City used its grant funds for eligible project costs and…

HUD OIG assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Florida, in the civil investigation of Group One Mortgage, Inc.  Group One’s principal place of business is located in Jupiter, FL.  Group One has participated in the FHA insurance program since 2004 and became a direct endorsement lender in 2005.  The direct endorsement program authorizes private-sector mortgage lenders to approve mortgage loans for FHA insurance…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited the City of Colorado Springs (City) in response to a citizen’s complaint received by our office.  The complainant alleged the City committed HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds without written agreements, delayed the reporting of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program income in a timely manner, and improperly charged some of…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Denver, CO in response to issues discovered during a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - Denver, Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), monitoring review.  Issues identified during HUD’s review included improperly accounting for administrative costs and the use of grant funds…

We audited EverBank’s Preforeclosure Sale Program because it had the highest Florida preforeclosure sale claims of all servicing lenders located in Florida and more than 50 percent of its Florida Federal Housing Administration (FHA) claims were from preforeclosure sales with more than $12.9 million paid from 2011 through 2013.  Our objective was to determine whether EverBank properly determined that mortgagors were eligible to participate…

We audited Miami-Dade County’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  The County was selected for review because (1) our audit plan included audits of HOME grantees; (2) the Miami U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development, ranked the County as high risk in its 2012 and 2013 risk assessments; and (3) HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) had not performed an audit of the County’s…

We performed an audit of the Boca Raton Housing Authority mainly to assess the validity of nine allegations made against the Authority.  The primary audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program tenant files in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s regulations, specifically to verify the validity of the complaint. Four of the nine…

We audited the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program administered by Hillsborough County, FL, as part of the activities in our 2013 fiscal year annual audit plan.  We selected the County for review based on a complaint referral from the Office of Inspector General’s Office of Investigation on a public complaint alleging the County’s misuse of CDBG funds for the County’s cleanup events.  Our audit objective was to determine…

We conducted a review of Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program payments made to Deandra Caison, a landlord, for a tenant residing in a property that Ms. Caison no longer owned.  Ms. Caison had sold the property to her brother but continued to receive housing assistance payments.  Between November 2007 and March 2010, Caison received $29,055 in housing assistance payments from the Orlando Housing Authority.  To resolve the…

We audited the City of West Palm Beach’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  The City was selected for review because (1) our audit plan included audits of HOME grantees, (2) the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Miami Office of Community Planning and Development ranked the City as high risk in its 2012 risk assessment, and (3) the most recent HUD monitoring review in 2012 identified concerns with the City’s…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Jefferson County Housing Authority (Authority) based on concerns that there were irregularities in its disposition process.  The objective of our audit was to determine whether the Authority followed HUD disposition procedures and used its sales proceeds properly. The Authority did not follow required disposition procedures and did not use…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Adams County Housing Authority based on concerns that the Authority did not follow HUD regulations in the use of its disposition sales proceeds.  The objectives of our audit were to determine whether the Authority placed the required number of Section 8 voucher holders into its Terrace Gardens units and appropriately spent its disposition…

We audited Lighthouse Inn, an assisted living facility located in Pompano Beach, FL.  In April 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) insured the $5.1 million mortgage on the property under Section 232 of the National Housing Act.  In September 2010, the facility defaulted on the mortgage loan.  Our overall audit objective was to determine whether the owner of Lighthouse Inn complied with the executed…

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Retreat at Church Ranch to determine whether the owner submitted a management agent certification to HUD for proper approval and to determine whether the books of account were complete and accurate.  We conducted this audit mainly because of a referral from the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Departmental Enforcement…