We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Lackawanna’s Housing Choice Voucher program because we received an anonymous complaint alleging incompetent leadership and poor quality of life at the Authority.  This is the second of two audit reports on the Authority.  Our objectives in this audit were to determine whether the Authority ensured that its Housing Choice Voucher program units met U.S. Department of Housing and Urban…

We audited the Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton’s (grantee) use of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Supportive Housing and HOME Investment Partnerships Program funds used for the renovation of St. Hedwig’s Veterans Village.  We audited the grantee because we received a complaint alleging misuse of HUD funds and a potential conflict of interest involving the construction management company.…

We conducted a review of the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh’s compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements and restrictions based on concerns noted during our ongoing internal audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing authorities’ compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements.  Our review objective was to determine whether the Authority complied…

We audited the County of Northumberland, PA’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program grant because the chairman of the Northumberland County board of commissioners requested that we audit the program.  Our objective was to determine whether the County administered its program grant in accordance with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act requirements. The County did not administer its program according to Recovery Act…

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Lackawanna, PA, because we received an anonymous complaint alleging incompetent leadership, nepotism, misuse of funds, and poor quality of life at the Authority.  Our objectives were to determine whether the allegations in the complaint had merit and whether the Authority had effective controls to prevent conflicts of interest, ensure that interfund accounts were settled in a timely manner…

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and because of weaknesses identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), we reviewed the public housing programs of the Colfax Housing Authority, Colfax, LA.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its HUD public housing programs in accordance with regulations and guidance. The Authority did not properly oversee its…

In accordance with our goal to review American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funds, we reviewed the City of New Orleans’ Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program.  Our objective was to determine whether the City had adequate financial and programmatic controls to meet Program requirements. The City did not have adequate financial and programmatic controls over its Program to ensure that it expended and reported funds in…

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and because of weaknesses identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), HUD’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) reviewed the public housing programs of the Kenner Housing Authority in Kenner, LA.  Our overall objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its public housing programs in accordance with regulations and…

We conducted a review of Brownsville Apartments based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Departmental Enforcement Center and the Pittsburgh Office of Multifamily Housing due to concerns that project funds were used inappropriately for purposes other than the operation of the project.  This concern was due largely to the owner’s lengthy history of being uncooperative with HUD.  Our objective…

We audited the Blair County Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program due to a citizen’s complaint alleging that the Authority (1) did not properly calculate housing assistance payments, (2) did not allow tenants to receive disability allowances, and (3) used outdated utility allowance schedules. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority accurately calculated housing assistance payments, disability allowances and…

We conducted a review of the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements and restrictions based on concerns noted during our ongoing internal audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing authorities’ compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements and during the resolution of recommendations from our prior audit report concerning the…

We completed a follow-up review regarding our recommendations made to the U.S. Department of Housing Urban and Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD) pertaining to our inspection of the State of Louisiana’s Road Home Elevation Incentive program, IED-09-002, issued in March 2010. The objective of the review was to determine whether the State of Louisiana had implemented the four recommendations in our March 2010…

We audited the Slidell Housing Authority based upon our regional risk analysis and as part of our annual audit plan to review public housing agencies’ operations. Our overall objective was to determine whether the Authority operated its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements and its administrative plan. The subobjectives were to determine whether the…

We audited Eustis Mortgage Corporation, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) direct endorsement lender located in New Orleans, LA. We selected Eustis Mortgage as a result of our regional risk analysis and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual audit plan goal to review single-family programs and lenders. Our objective was to determine whether Eustis Mortgage (1) complied with…

We conducted a limited scope review of the Philadelphia Housing Authority based on questions surrounding the abrupt departure of the Authority’s executive director in June 2012. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority’s executive director improperly used U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds by providing improper gifts or unsupported promotions to a senior staff member with whom he had an improper…

We audited Luzerne County, PA’s $6 million loan of Community Development Block Grant funds to CityVest that was expected to be used to revitalize the historic Hotel Sterling and surrounding properties. We did the audit because HUD Office of Inspector General audit report 2012-PH-0001 identified this long standing open Block Grant activity and because we received a citizen complaint alleging possible misappropriation of these funds. Our…

We audited the Allegheny County Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program because (1) the Authority received more than $27.3 million in Housing Choice Voucher funding in fiscal year 2011, (2) an article in the October 22, 2011, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described housing quality standards problems with a housing unit participating in the Authority’s program, and (3) we had never audited the Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program. The…

Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program. Our objectives were to determine whether the State ensured that (1) Recovery Act disbursements to local governments were eligible and supported and (2) Program participants were eligible to receive assistance in accordance with Program requirements. The State generally ensured that its Recovery Act disbursements to local governments were eligible. However, some of the disbursements were not…

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 City of Philadelphia, PA’s administration of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 grant that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as part of our fiscal year 2012 audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether the grantee administered the grant in accordance with Recovery Act and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We found that the grantee generally…