We completed a review of Clark County’s (grantee) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (Program). The grantee includes Clark County and the City of North Las Vegas. We performed the review because Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Act) reviews are part of the OIG’s audit plan, and the Program was identified as high risk. In addition, the grantee was awarded more than $29.6 million in Program funding. Our objectives were to determine…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s annual audit plan, we completed a capacity review of the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands’ (Department) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) funding. Our objective was to determine whether the Department had sufficient capacity to manage and administer its Recovery Act funding. Specifically, we reviewed and assessed the Department’s capacity in the following areas:…

We performed a limited review of the Washoe County HOME Consortium (Consortium) because it received an allocation of more than $4.6 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funding as a subgrantee of the State of Nevada. Our objective was to determine whether the Consortium had sufficient capacity and had established adequate methodologies to implement the NSP requirements in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

We completed a review of First Source Financial USA (First Source), a former nonsupervised loan correspondent approved to originate FHA-insured loans. The objective was to determine whether First Source originated FHA loans and had a quality control plan that complied with HUD rules and regulations. We reviewed 20 loans amounting to more than $2.5 million that were in claim status. Our review disclosed that First Source: (1) allowed…

LAS VEGAS – The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada, the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspector General hosted a roundtable yesterday for community members and organizations on Sexual Harassment in Housing.“Tenants should feel safe and not live in fear of sexual harassment, sexual assault or sexual exploitation by their landlord or other people who…

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Raelene Rodrigues, 62, of Honolulu, Hawaii was sentenced today. Rodrigues was the last of four defendants convicted and sentenced in connection with charges involving a scheme to defraud federally funded local housing programs for over $100,000 from approximately April 2015 to August 2017. Co-defendants Leopoldo Bitte, Jr., 38, of Hilo Hawaii, Gregory Lau, 40, of San Leandro, California, and separately-charged defendant Kalani…

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A former regional director of community development for the National Community Stabilization Trust — formed in 2008 in response to the national mortgage-housing foreclosure crisis — was sentenced Tuesday to one year and one day in prison for conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. “The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) entrusts non-profit organizations to administer HUD…