In response to a congressional and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) request to review allegations of corruption and mismanagement, we audited the Lafayette Parish Housing Authority’s (Authority) operations of its (1) public housing program and (2) Disaster Housing Assistance Program (DHAP). Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated in accordance with HUD’s and other requirements. Specifically, we…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the Housing Authority of the City of Mountain Grove, MO (Authority), in response to a citizen’s complaint received by our office. The complaint made allegations related to asset misappropriations, a procurement violation, and conflicts of interest. Our objective was to determine whether the allegations were valid. The allegations related to asset…

We audited the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority (Authority), a $29.7 million U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP 2) grantee. We initiated the audit as part of the HUD Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan to review programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). Our objective was to determine whether the Authority’s use of the NSP 2 funding…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Missouri Housing Development Commission’s (Commission) Recovery Act funded Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP). Our audit objective was to determine whether the Commission expended Recovery Act grant funds in accordance with Recovery Act requirements and applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rules. We concluded…

We audited the Housing Authority of East Baton Rouge Parish's (Authority) American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) Public Housing Capital Fund obligations. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority met HUD and Recovery Act requirements when obligating and expending funds it received under the Recovery Act. We initiated the audit as part of our audit plan and goal to review funds provided under the…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited ACORN Associates, Inc.’s (Associates) use of its fiscal years 2004 and 2005 Lead Elimination Action Program (program) grant funds. Associates was selected for audit based upon a request from HUD’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control and multiple congressional requests. Our objective was to determine whether Associates expended program…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited allegations made against BIONIC Real Estate Services, LLC (BIONIC), a HUD-approved management agent, in a citizen complaint received by our office. The allegations related to BIONIC’s management of Powell Apartments, a HUD Section 236-insured multifamily property with partial project-based Section 8-subsidized units. The objective of our review was…

We audited the Jefferson Parish Housing Authority as part of our annual audit plan to review public housing programs. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and other requirements. Specifically, we wanted to determine whether the Authority (1) complied with procurement requirements and (2) ensured that its expenditures were eligible and…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Shreveport (Authority) as part of our annual audit plan to review American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) funds. Our objective was to determine whether obligations the Authority made between January 30 and March 17, 2010, were appropriate, prudent, eligible, and supported and whether procurements were made in accordance with requirements. We determined that the Authority…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Missouri Housing Development Commission’s (Commission) Recovery Act funded Tax Credit Assistance Program (TCAP). Our audit objectives were to determine whether the Commission obtained wage reports and lobbying certifications required by Federal law and accurately reported job creation to Recovery.gov. We concluded that the Commission did…

We reviewed 12 Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans that American Sterling Bank (American) underwrote as an FHA direct endorsement lender. Our review objective was to determine whether American underwrote the 12 loans in accordance with FHA requirements. This review is part of Operation Watchdog, an Office of Inspector General (OIG) initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion of the FHA…

We audited the State of Louisiana, Office of Community Development’s (State), Orleans Parish Long Term Community Recovery Program (Program), administered by the State’s subrecipient, the City of New Orleans (City). Our objective was to determine whether the City, as the State’s subrecipient, met the requirements of its cooperative endeavor agreement (agreement) with the State during its administration of the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority’…

We performed a review of the State of Louisiana, Office of Community Development’s (State), Louisiana Tourism Marketing Program (Program), administered by the State’s subrecipient, the Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism (DCRT). We initiated the review as part of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Gulf Coast Region’s audit plan and examination of activities related to Gulf Coast hurricane disaster relief efforts. Our objective was…

We completed an inspection of the State of Louisiana’s (State) Road Home Elevation Incentive (elevation grant) program funded by HUD Community Development Block Grant disaster recovery funds.  We wanted to know whether homeowners used the funds to elevate their homes as set forth in their grant agreements.  Our inspection covered 199 (about 10 percent) of the 1,906 property owners who received more than $44.4 million in elevation…

We performed an audit of the State of Louisiana, Office of Community Development (State), Recovery Workforce Training Program (Program) administered by the State’s subrecipient, Louisiana Workforce Commission (LWC). We initiated the audit as part of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Gulf Coast Region’s audit plan and examination of relief efforts provided by the Federal Government in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Our audit…

As part of the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General's obligation to ensure accountability and transparency in use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) funds, we performed a review to assess the Housing Authority of New Orleans' (Authority) capacity to administer $34.5 million in ARRA funding. Our objective was to evaluate the Authority's capacity and risks in the following areas:…

We reviewed Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured home equity conversion mortgages (HECM) loans originated by First Call Mortgage Company and sponsored by James B. Nutter & Company (J.B.Nutter) during the period of January 2007 to December 2008. We reviewed these loans because in September 2008 state banking regulators from New Hampshire and Massachusetts found that First Call used deceptive business practices and did not have the…

We audited the Louisiana Land Trust (LLT), a $29 million Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) disaster recovery subrecipient of the State of Louisiana, Office of Community Development (State). We initiated the audit as part of the Office of Inspector General (OIG) Gulf Coast Region’s audit plan and examination of relief efforts provided by the federal government in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Our audit objective was to…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Grace Hill Neighborhood Health Centers (Grace Hill). Our audit objective was to determine whether Grace Hill properly charged payroll and support expenses to the grants. We concluded that Grace Hill charged unsupported salary and benefit costs to the grants because it did not require grant staff to properly track their time. Additionally, Grace Hill…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited Midwest Mortgage Capital (Midwest). Our audit objectives were to determine whether Midwest followed HUD requirements for underwriting loans and performing its quality control program for single-family production. We concluded that Midwest did not properly underwrite 7 of the 29 defaulted loans reviewed. These loans had material underwriting…