In January 2017, HUD awarded the City $141.2 million in Community Development Block Grant National Disaster Resilience grant funding for disaster resilience. HUD designed the grant to give states flexibility in planning program activities and help state and local communities recover from past disasters, while also improving their infrastructure to withstand future extreme events through strategic community investments.  The City initially…

We audited the State of North Carolina’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds.  We initiated this audit as part of our commitment to helping the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) address its top management challenges and to support HUD’s strategic objective to support effectiveness and accountability in long-term disaster recovery.  Further, Congress has expressed strong interest in…

We audited the Long Branch Housing Authority based on the results of our previous audits of the Asbury Park and Red Bank Housing Authorities, which received management services and technical assistance from Long Branch for several years. The objective of the audit was to determine whether Long Branch properly handled income and expenses associated with its agreements with Asbury Park and Red Bank in accordance with requirements. Long Branch did…

We audited the Housing Authority of Plainfield, NJ’s administration of its public housing programs.  We selected the Authority based on a risk analysis of public housing agencies in New Jersey that considered the size of the agency, the amount of operating and capital funds received, and previous work conducted by the Office of Inspector General.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its Public…

We reviewed the Bogalusa Housing Authority’s public housing programs based on the activities included in our annual audit plan and because the Authority has not been audited in more than 15 years.  The objective of our review was to determine whether the Authority administered its public housing programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and its own requirements. The Authority did not always…

We reviewed the Northlake Homeless Coalition’s Continuum of Care Program (CoC) based on a hotline complaint alleging impropriety in Northlake’s selection of grant award recipients and as part of our annual audit plan.  The objective of our review was to determine whether Northlake administered its CoC in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and its own program requirements.The hotline complaint did…

We audited the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grants as part of our annual audit plan because the Department received more than $57 million in NSP1 and NSP3 funding.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Department administered its NSP1 and NSP3 grants in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements. The Department did not administer…

We audited the Newark Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher Program. We selected the Authority for review because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) authorized more than $111 million in program funding for its Housing Choice Voucher Program in fiscal years 2016 and 2017 and based on our risk analysis of public housing agencies located in the State of New Jersey. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the…

We audited the State of Louisiana’s Restore Louisiana Homeowner Assistance program as part of our annual audit plan to review Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery programs.  Our objective was to determine whether the State ensured that it complied with (1) its eligibility requirements for the Homeowner Assistance program and (2) website reporting requirements. We found that The State did not always ensure that it complied…

We audited the Red Bank Housing Authority based on the results of our audit of Asbury Park Housing Authority because both public housing agencies had agreements with the Long Branch Housing Authority to provide services.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its Public Housing Operating and Capital Fund programs in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal,…

We audited the Greensboro Housing Authority’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its RAD conversion in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements.  Specifically, we wanted to determine whether the Authority (1) executed appropriate written agreements, (2) ensured that project financing sources were secured…

We audited the North Carolina Department of Commerce’s Small Cities Community Development Block Grant as part of the activities in our annual audit plan.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the Department of Commerce (1) awarded funds to local governments that met a CDBG national objective, (2) spent funds only for activities that were eligible and supported, and (3) included all methods of distribution in its action plan. The…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Asbury Park based on our risk analysis of public housing agencies located in the State of New Jersey.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its Public Housing Operating and Capital Fund programs in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Federal, and Authority requirements. The Authority did not always…

We audited the Jefferson Parish Community Development Department in response to a citizen complaint and in accordance with our annual audit plan to review the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) community planning and development programs, including the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships programs.  Our objective was to determine whether the Parish (1) ensured that payments to…

We audited Hudson County, NJ’s HOME Investment Partnerships program (HOME) as part of the activities in our annual audit plan.  We selected the County based on a risk analysis that considered the amount of funding, the risk score assigned to it by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and our identification of potential issues.  Our objective was to determine whether the County committed and disbursed HOME funds…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices, District of New Jersey, District of Minnesota, and Southern District of Florida, in the civil investigation of PHH Corporation, PHH Mortgage Corporation (PHHMC), and PHH Home Loans, LLC (PHHHL), collectively referred to as PHH.  PHH was a direct endorsement lender…

We audited the City of New Orleans’ HOME Investment Partnerships program in response to a citizen complaint alleging that the City did not monitor its HOME-assisted projects and in accordance with our annual audit plan.  Our objective was to determine the validity of the complaint allegations and whether the City administered its HOME program in accordance with Federal and HUD requirements. We found that complaint had merit as the City did…

We audited the Lexington Housing Authority’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion.  We selected the Authority based on concerns from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) North Carolina State Office of Public Housing and a request from the Housing Authority’s Board of Commissioners.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its RAD program in accordance with HUD…

We audited the State of New Jersey’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded Sandy Homebuyer Assistance program.  We conducted the audit because (1) it was the State’s only home-buyer assistance program, (2) the State had spent a high percentage of its allocated funds, and (3) reviews performed by the State auditor and the State’s disaster recovery integrity monitor identified potential issues.  Our objective was to…

We audited the Hammond Housing Authority as part of our annual audit plan to review public housing programs.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority properly administered its U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program in accordance with HUD requirements. While the Authority properly administered its waiting list and completed housing quality standards inspections at least…