We audited the Boston Housing Authority’s public housing program to determine whether the physical condition of the Authority’s program units complied with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and the Authority’s requirements.  The audit was initiated based on our assessment of risks associated with public housing agencies’ program units and recent media attention and public concern about the condition of subsidized…

We audited the Boston Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program.  We initiated this audit based upon our assessment of risks associated with public housing agencies' HCV Program units, as well as recent media attention and public concern about the conditions of subsidized housing properties.  Our objective was to determine whether the physical conditions of the Authority’s HCV units complied with both the U.S. Department…

This report is the first in a series of reports taking an in-depth look at how six communities used the pandemic funding they received to address a wide range of needs. The first area was focused on the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, with a detailed look at 9 of the 52 pandemic progams that provided funding to the community.

We audited the Springfield Housing Authority’s Public Housing Operating Fund and Capital Fund programs because the Authority ranked fifth highest on our risk assessment of Massachusetts public housing agencies and is the third largest in the State. In addition, we had not audited the Authority in more than 10 years. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority complied with procurement and contract administration…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis, MD’s Housing Choice Voucher Program because we received a complaint alleging that the Authority (1) ignored discrepancies between income information for applicants and program participants and (2) did not properly administer its program.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its program in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development…

We audited the Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ (State) Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program because the State was the largest recipient of CDBG funds in New England.  HUD awarded the State more than $88 million in CDBG funding for program years 2015, 2016, and 2017.  In addition, we had not audited any of the State’s community planning and development programs in the last 10 years.  Our audit objective was…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, audited the lender, Berkeley Point Capital, and the underwriting for the Second and Delaware project loan.  We initiated the review of the loan underwriting based on a previous review of the Second and Delaware project, which focused on the construction and development of the project.  The almost $46 million project is Federal Housing Administration (…

We audited the Crisfield Housing Authority’s use of public housing program operating and capital funds because we received a hotline complaint alleging misuse of public housing assets and we had never audited the Authority.  The audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its public housing program in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements and its annual…

We audited the Crisfield Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program because we received a hotline complaint alleging that it misused public housing assets and we had never audited the Authority.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority (1) ensured that families met eligibility requirements, (2) properly admitted families from the waiting list, (3) correctly calculated housing assistance payments and maintained…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts in the civil investigation of First American Mortgage Trust.  First American has its principal place of business in Brighton, MA, and does business as NXTLoan.Com Corp., a Delaware corporation.  First American is the parent company of NXTL. On October 18, 2016, First…

We audited the Housing Choice Voucher program at the Boston Housing Authority because of the size of the program, the time that had elapsed since our last audit, and the inherent program risk.  The Authority operates the second largest Housing Choice Voucher program in New England.  In addition, our office had not audited any Authority program since 2010.  The Housing Choice Voucher program is inherently risky as Congress…

We audited the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) assistance grant provided to the City of Springfield, MA, by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist in disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts resulting from damages caused by presidentially declared disasters.  The audit objective was to determine whether the City properly followed Federal procurement requirements and whether…

Sons of Divine Providence did not properly oversee the HUD-insured nursing home to ensure that it operated in accordance with its regulatory agreement.  By not informing HUD of the lawsuits, the changes in management agents, and the loans, Sons of Divine Providence did not provide HUD the necessary data to understand the risk to the HUD insurance fund.  However, when Sons of Divine Providence sold the nursing home and paid off the HUD…

We audited the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County’s Housing Choice Voucher program because (1) it had a large program receiving more than $82 million in fiscal year 2015, (2) it had the second largest number of housing choice vouchers of non-Moving to Work housing agencies within the jurisdiction of the Philadelphia region, and (3) we had not audited its program.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis’ procurement activities due to a hotline complaint.  The complaint alleged that the Authority failed to follow procurement requirements.  This is the second of two audit reports on the Authority.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority procured services and products using operating and capital funds in accordance with applicable requirements. The…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis’ Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) program due to a hotline complaint.  The complaint alleged that the Authority used ROSS grant funds to pay a resident who did not work on a grant.  This is the first of two audit reports on the Authority.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its ROSS program in accordance with applicable U.S…

We audited the Somerville Housing Authority’s public housing and Public Housing Capital Fund programs as part of our fiscal year 2016 regional audit plan.  We initiated our review because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Boston Office of Public and Indian Housing had not monitored the programs in the past 5 years and we had not audited the Authority in the past 10 years.  Our audit objectives were to…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California in the civil investigation of Iron Mountain, Incorporated, and Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC (Iron Mountain).  Iron Mountain is headquartered in Boston, MA.  The investigation began due to a qui tam[1] filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern…

We audited the State of Maryland’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded Housing Recovery program.  We conducted the audit because the program was the largest funded program in the State’s first action plan.  Our objectives were to determine whether the State (1) assisted eligible applicants, (2) avoided duplicating assistance, (3) incurred eligible expenses that were properly supported, (4) procured services and…

We conducted a limited review of the Cambridge Housing Authority’s Moving to Work Housing Choice Voucher Program’s use of exception payment standards.   This program allows public housing authorities to use exception payment standards to set rental payments in excess of the payment standard established for an authority’s rents . The review was initiated as a result of a concern raised by a member of Congress about whether public…