We reviewed the City of Moore, OK, because it received $52.2 million in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding in response to the tornado that struck Moore on May 20, 2013.  Further, the City only recently became a CDBG entitlement grantee, and there was a substantial increase between its regular CDBG funding and its CDBG-DR funding.  Also, our annual audit plan placed a priority on reviewing entities…

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.…

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…

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 audited the Section 8 program administered by Summit Bradford Apartments in Tulsa, OK.  We selected Bradford because we were informed that its management agent may have received Section 8 subsidies for vacant units.  Our objective was to determine whether Summit Bradford Apartments, LP, the owner, and Summit Housing Partners, LLC, the management agent, administered Bradford’s Section 8 program in compliance with its housing…

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…

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…

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 civil division of the Western District of Oklahoma U.S. Attorney’s Office settled alleged violations of equity skimming against the owners of Heartland Health Care Center of Bethany. The equity skimming allegations stemmed from our December 2004 audit report outlining the misuse of funds. As a result of the combined efforts of the U.S. Attorney’s office; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector…

We audited the Cherokee Nation in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s goal to review funds provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Our objective was to determine whether the Nation complied with Recovery Act requirements for procuring, expending, and reporting its formula Native American Housing Block Grant funds received under the Recovery Act. The…

We audited the Cherokee Nation in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s goal to review funds provided under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.  Our objective was to determine whether the Nation complied with Recovery Act requirements for procuring, expending, and reporting its formula Native American Housing Block Grant funds received under the Recovery…

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,…

Based on a request by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) multifamily housing Kansas City hub office, we started an audit of three related nursing facilities on August 2008: • Bartlesville Health Care Center, Inc., doing business as Silver Lake Care Center; • Mannford Health Care Center, Inc., doing business as Cimarron Pointe Care Center; and • Owasso Nursing Center, Inc., doing business as…

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…