We conducted a review of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans underwritten by Sterling National Mortgage Company, Inc. (Sterling), an FHA direct endorsement lender. The review was conducted as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Operation Watchdog initiative to review the underwriting of 15 direct endorsement lenders at the suggestion of the FHA Commissioner. The Commissioner expressed concern regarding the increasing claim…

We completed a corrective action verification review of the audit recommendations for findings 1 and 2 of Audit Report Number 2006-NY-1005, issued February 21, 2006 pertaining to the general operations of the Utica Municipal Housing Authority, Utica, New York (Authority). The purpose of the corrective action verification was to determine whether the selected audit recommendations were implemented and the deficiencies cited in the report were…

We audited the Avesta Housing Management Corporation (Avesta), located in Portland, ME, in response to a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Manchester, NH, Office of Housing field office. The request came after the completion of an Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit of the Orchard Court project. Avesta was the previous manager of Orchard Court and is the current manager of 30 other HUD projects.…

We performed a capacity review to assess the Rochester Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its capital funding program. The Authority was awarded $5.9 million in capital funds under the Recovery Act. Our review determined that the Authority had weaknesses in its financial controls that if left unaddressed could lead to its having a diminished capacity to effectively administer its supplemental Recovery Act funds. Specifically,…

We audited the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its Low-Rent housing program as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) strategic plan goals to improve the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) fiscal accountability for its assisted housing programs. The audit objectives were to determine whether the Authority administered its low-rent housing program in accordance with…

We audited the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its Resident Opportunities and Self-Sufficiency (ROSS) and Housing Choice Voucher Family Self-Sufficiency grant programs as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) strategic plan goals to improve the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) fiscal accountability for its assisted housing programs. The audit objectives were to determine…

We audited Somerset Investors Corporation (Somerset), dba Somerset Mortgage Bankers, a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved direct endorsement lender located in Melville, NY. The audit objectives were to determine whether Somerset (1) originated FHA-insured refinanced loans in accordance with the requirements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)/FHA and (2) conducted quality control reviews that complied with…

We completed the fourteenth audit report in our ongoing review of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (the auditee) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Assistance funds provided to the State of New York in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. During the audit period, April 1 through September 30, 2009, the auditee…

We performed a review of the New York City Housing Authority’s (Authority) capacity to administer the approximately $423 million in capital funds awarded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) in support of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to report on Recovery Act recipients’ capacity to administer funds received. The objective of the review was to determine whether the Authority’s general,…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) obligation to ensure accountability and transparency in the use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) funds, we performed a capacity review to assess the Syracuse Housing Authority’s (Authority) administration of its capital funding program. The Authority was awarded $4.5 million in capital funds under the Recovery Act. Our objective was to evaluate the Authority…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) obligation to ensure accountability and transparency in the use of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) funds, we performed a capacity review to assess the City of Utica, New York’s (City) administration of its lead-based paint hazard control program. The City was awarded $2.04 million under the Recovery Act to carry out lead-based paint hazard control activities in…

We audited the SFDS Development Corporation (agent), management agent for three U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) subsidized Section 202 elderly housing direct loan properties, in response to a complaint to the Office ofInspector General (OlG) Hotline that alleged misappropriation of HUD funds by the agent. The objective of our review was to assess the merits of the complaint. It was expanded to assess the agent's…

In accordance with our goal to review and ensure the proper administration of Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds provided under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and/or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), we conducted a capacity review of the operations of the State of Maine’s (State) Department of Economic and Community Development, Office of Community Development (Department). The…

We audited the management agent operations of the South Bronx Community Management Co., Inc. (agent), as they relate to the administration of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-Section 202 direct loan for elderly and handicapped housing project Maria Isabel at the request of the HUD New York City Office of Multifamily Housing. The audit disclosed that the agent generally complied with HUD financial and unit maintenance…

We completed the thirteenth report in our ongoing audits of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (the auditee) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery Assistance funds provided to the State of New York in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. The auditee disbursed approximately $50.3 million of these funds during our…

We conducted a review of the City of Little Falls, New York’s (the City) Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), and HOME Programs administered by its Urban Renewal Agency (URA). We selected the City for review based on a hotline complaint that alleges mismanagement of HUD funding for the CDBG and HOME programs administered by the City and its URA. The objectives of the review were to determine the merits of the hotline complaint…