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…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the City of Kansas City, MO’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program I (NSP I) based on previous problems in the City’s Community Development Block Grant program and the amount of funding it received.  During fiscal year 2008, the City received more than $7.3 million in NSP1 funding.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General selected the City of Joplin, MO’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery program for audit because the City was awarded more than $45 million in CDBG Disaster Recovery funds in April 2012 and an additional $113 million in May 2013.  In addition, we had not audited the City’s activities for at least 10 years.  Our audit objective was…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General completed an audit of Windridge Apartments in Wichita, Kansas.  We selected Windridge Apartments based on a referral from the Region 7 Office of Multifamily Housing due to high tenant receivables and excessive travel expenses.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether Windridge Apartment Associates, L.P., (1) followed HUD rules and…

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…

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…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited The Temtor, a residential and commercial development in St. Louis MO.  We selected The Temtor for audit because the project quickly defaulted on its mortgage and requested a partial payment of claim.  The project reached final endorsement on January 30, 2012, and failed to make timely mortgage payments beginning March 1, 2012.  Our…

We reviewed the City of Apalachicola’s Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funded by the State of Florida for a marina improvements project in response to a hotline complaint.  The complaint was submitted to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General in a letter, dated June 29, 2012.  The objectives of the review were to determine whether the City’s CDBG grant application…

We audited the City of Sarasota because it was awarded $23 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2) funds and it was in accordance with our audit plan to review funds provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Our objective was to determine whether the City administered its NSP2 in accordance with applicable Federal requirements. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether (1) approved activities met a…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG-R) Program of the City of St. Louis, MO. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City complied with applicable Recovery Act requirements for CDBG-R funds and properly reported its Recovery Act activities. We found that the City did not comply with…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, in conducting a review of CitiMortgage, Inc. CitiMortgage is a direct subsidiary of Citibank, N.A., and Citibank is an indirect subsidiary of Citigroup. CitiMortgage is based in O’Fallon, MO. The review began due to a qui tam filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), conducted a review of Section 8 housing assistance payments made to Lynn Leggins, a landlord, for a tenant with whom he lived. The objective of our review was to determine whether Mr. Leggins received housing assistance payments that he was not eligible to receive. HUD’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program provides rental subsidies through tenant…

We audited Little Haiti Housing Association as a result of a complaint received regarding its administration of the multifamily activity funded under the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). Our objective was to determine whether Little Haiti used NSP2 funds in compliance with Federal regulations. Specifically, we focused on determining whether (1) Little Haiti complied with Federal regulations when selecting and using the developer,…

HUD OIG audited Universal American Mortgage, Co. LLC, located in Miami, FL, in accordance with our annual audit plan. Universal was selected for review because its default rate of 3.8 percent was higher than the Miami area default rate of 1.9 percent. Our objectives were to determine whether the lender followed U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements when originating and underwriting loans and implementing its…

HUD OIG audited Nationwide Mortgage & Associates, Inc., a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved non-supervised direct endorsement lender located in Fort Lauderdale, FL. We selected this lender because its default rate of 4 percent was higher than the Miami U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) area average default rate of 2 percent. The audit objectives were to determine whether the lender followed HUD requirements…

We audited the City of Orlando’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program because it had more than $1 million that it needed to commit approximately 1 month before its deadline compliance date. Our objective was to determine whether the City accurately entered commitments and project completion data into the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Integrated Disbursement and Information System for HOME-funded activities. The City…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial, Incorporated) we reviewed CitiMortgage’s foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other four reviews. OIG…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited John Calvin Manor of Lee’s Summit, MO, in response to a request from HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing in Kansas City, KS. Our audit objective was to determine whether the property violated its regulatory and loan agreement with HUD. The property violated its regulatory and loan agreements with HUD by improperly spending restricted funds,…

HUD OIG audited the Housing Authority of the City of Fort Lauderdale’s (Authority’s) administration of its Public Housing Capital Fund grants under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. This was an OIG-initiated audit in accordance with OIG’s 2010-2015 strategic plan to contribute to the effective use of Federal funds allocated by the Recovery Act. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its…