WASHINGTON DC— Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued its annual independent evaluation of the effectiveness of HUD’s information security (InfoSec) program and practices under the Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA).FISMA requires all Inspectors General (IG) to annually assess the effectiveness of their Federal agency’s InfoSec programs. The Office…

HUD OIG found that the Authority did not always ensure that its HCV Program units met HUD’s housing quality standards and did not consistently stop payments to owners who failed to correct unit deficiencies. We also found the Authority did not comply with HUD’s monitoring and data collection requirements of the Lead Safe Housing Rule for cases of children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLLs).  

HUD OIG found that the Authority did not adequately manage lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in its public housing, including failing to perform timely lead‐based paint visual inspections in an estimated 4,762 units.  

The review found the Puerto Rico Department of Housing budgeted most of its $1.93 billion disaster recovery funds for its two main electrical grid programs which were launched in 2023. Both programs are in their early implementation stages.  As of July 12, 2024, PRDOH had spent less than 1 percent of its total budget for both programs – only $179,761 of $1.93 billion.   

WASHINGTON DC— Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report examining the City and County of Honolulu ’s Department of Budget and Fiscal Services’ and Department of Community Services’ (the City) practices for preventing, detecting, and responding to fraud in the administration of more than $25 million in HUD’s Emergency Solutions Grant Cares Act (ESG-CV) program funding…

Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued a report examining the California Department of Housing and Community Development’s (HCD) practices for preventing, detecting, and responding to fraud in the administration of over $319 million in pandemic funding through HUD’s Emergency Solutions Grant – CARES Act (ESG-CV) program.Congress appropriated $4 billion for ESG-CV grants to…

WASHINGTON DC— Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General issued a report examining the Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority’s (Authority) management of cases of children with elevated blood lead levels and oversight of lead‐based paint and associated hazards in its public housing program.The Authority is one of the 10 largest public housing authorities (PHA) in the country with approximately…

WASHINGTON DC— Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General issued a report examining the physical condition of Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program units at the Columbus Metropolitan Housing Authority (Authority). The HCV Program, also known as Section 8, is the Federal Government’s largest tenant-based rental assistance program for low-income families, the elderly, and persons with…

Program Focused on Eliminating Environmental Hazards and Combatting Sexual Misconduct in HUD-Assisted HousingWASHINGTON – Members of the Anacostia Coordinating Council, today, heard presentations and had discussions with U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis at a panel focused on promoting the health, safety, and civil liberty of tenants living in HUD-assisted…

WASHINGTON DC— Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an audit report examining the Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority’s (PRHFA) Homebuyer Assistance Program (HBA). The HBA program was developed by the Puerto Rico Department of Housing (PRDOH) to incentivize families to stay in Puerto Rico after Hurricanes Irma and Maria by providing eligible applicants with closing…

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Duane Emery, 65, Webster, Wisconsin, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to one year and one day in federal prison for wire fraud. Emery pleaded guilty to this charge on October 17, 2023.Between 2015 and 2019, Emery stole over $150,000 from the St. Croix Chippewa Housing Authority, an agency of the St. Croix…

MADISON, WIS. – Timothy M. O’Shea, United States Attorney for the Western District of Wisconsin, announced that Karen Johnson, 55, Cumberland, Wisconsin was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge William M. Conley to one year and one day in prison for wire fraud, to be followed by a three-year period of supervised release. Johnson pleaded guilty to this charge on September 1, 2023.Between 2014 and 2019, Johnson stole over $200,000 from the St.…

WASHINGTON DC— Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) issued an audit examining HUD’s efforts to prevent duplication of benefits when using Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery and Mitigation (CDBG-DR/MIT) funds. HUD and more than 30 other federal agencies are responsible for providing money and other resources to states and territories impacted by natural disasters,…

WASHINGTON – Nicole Freeman Smith, 51, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, pleaded guilty today in Superior Court to one felony count and one misdemeanor count of financial exploitation of a vulnerable adult or elderly person (FEVA) for stealing more than $133,000 from two elderly District residents suffering from cognitive impairment. The plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, D.C. Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb, and Special Agent…

      WASHINGTON DC—Apex Waukegan LLC (Apex), a multifamily housing landlord receiving rental assistance subsidies from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and Integra Affordable Management LLC (Integra), Apex’s affiliated management agent, were ordered to pay $1,258,671 in civil money penalties for breaching their Housing Assistance Payment Contract (HAP contract) by knowingly failing to maintain…

The United States has filed a complaint under the National Housing Act of 1934 (NHA) against Bob Dean Jr. and several affiliated corporate entities for misappropriating and misusing the assets and income of four nursing homes in Louisiana before and after Hurricane Ida’s landfall in August 2021. The four nursing homes, all of which were owned and operated by Dean and his companies, and had loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA…

WASHINGTON – Guild Mortgage Company has agreed to pay the United States $24.9 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act and the common law by knowingly breaching material program requirements when it originated and underwrote mortgages insured by the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the Department of Justice announced today.  Guild Mortgage Company is…