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 audited the Harrisburg Housing Authority’s (Authority) procurement function. We audited the Authority because a previous audit conducted in 2007 indicated that there was weakness in its purchasing process. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority procured goods and services in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and other applicable requirements. We found that the Authority did not…

We audited the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its housing quality standards inspection program for its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of our fiscal year 2010 audit plan. The audit objective addressed in this report was to determine whether the Authority ensured that its program units met the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) housing quality standards. The Authority did…

We audited the Harrisburg Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its Public Housing Capital Fund grant that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). We selected the Authority for audit because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the Authority a $4.4 million formula grant. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered the grant funds…

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 audited the Housing Authority of the City of Pottsville, PA’s (Authority) capital fund grant that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). On March 18, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the Authority a $992,895 grant under the Recovery Act for its public housing capital fund program. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its…

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…

We audited the Scranton Housing Authority (Authority) based on a referral from our Office of Investigation. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority followed applicable procurement regulations and used U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds properly. The Authority did not purchase goods, services and property in accordance with applicable HUD requirements, the terms of its annual consolidated contributions…

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 audited the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its housing assistance payments for leased housing under its Moving to Work Demonstration program as part of our fiscal year 2009 audit plan. This is the first of two audit reports that we plan to issue on the Authority’s leased housing program. The audit objective addressed in this report was to determine whether the Authority maintained adequate documentation to…

We audited the City of Altoona, Pennsylvania’s (City), Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program based on a citizen complaint. Our audit objective was to determine if the City properly paid a subrecipient for eligible CDBG activities. We found that the City paid a subrecipient $914,335 for CDBG activities that it could not demonstrate were eligible. The City could not demonstrate that it paid a subreicipient for eligible activities that…

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…

We audited the City of Altoona, Pennsylvania’s (City) capacity to administer funds it receives under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The City will receive $1.3 million in Recovery Act funds to carry out Community Development Block Grant and Homelessness Prevention Rapid Re-Housing activities. Our objective was to determine whether the City had adequate capacity and controls to adequately administer its Recovery…

We audited the City of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania’s (City) community planning and development program. On March 6, 2009, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the City $1.1 million under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) for its community planning and development program. The U.S. Office of Management and Budget directed the Inspectors General to perform audits to ensure that funds…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of York’s (Authority) administration of its housing quality standards inspection program for its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of our fiscal year 2009 audit plan. The audit objective was to determine whether the Authority ensured that its program units met the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) housing quality standards. The Authority did not ensure that its…

We audited the City of Reading's (City) asset control area program as part of a nationwide audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) monitoring of program participants. Our objective was to determine whether the City administered its asset control area program in compliance with HUD requirements. We focused our review on whether the City complied with specific requirements in its asset control area agreement…

Due to a citizen's complaint, we audited the State of Louisiana's (State) Road Home homeowner assistance program managed by the State's contractor, ICF Emergency Management Services, LLC. The complaint raised a potential issue with Road Home employees improperly obtaining grants. During our audit on employee eligibility for additional compensation grants, we identified possible program eligibility issues through a review of the…

Due to a citizen's complaint, we audited the State of Louisiana's (State) Road Home homeowner assistance program managed by the State's contractor, ICF Emergency Management Services, LLC. The complaint raised a potential issue with Road Home employees improperly obtaining grants. During our audit on employee eligibility for additional compensation grants, we identified possible program eligibility issues through a review of the…

We reviewed lenders in the State of Connecticut that had Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans with secondary financing from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority as part of our annual audit plan. The objective was to determine whether the lenders inappropriately gave borrowers using secondary financing from the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority cash back at closing in excess of their total cash deposit and other closing costs paid…