We audited the City of Camden, NJ’s administration of its Community Development Block Grant program.  We conducted the audit because the City was authorized $6.6 million in Block Grant funds for fiscal years 2013 through 2015 and we had not audited its program since 1996.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the City ensured that its program activities met national objectives and complied with applicable U.S. Department of…

We completed a review of the City of Jersey City, NJ’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in response to a hotline complaint.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether allegations included in the complaint had merit and whether City officials had established and implemented adequate controls to ensure that the City’s CDBG program was administered in compliance with CDBG program requirements. Our review determined…

We are conducting an audit of the City of Jersey City’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program based upon an Office of Inspector General (OIG) hotline complaint containing several allegations, one of which was that the City’s Division of Community Development’s lead risk assessor was not qualified or producing monitoring reports for rehabilitation work funded under the City’s Homeowner Rehabilitation Program.  The objective of…

We completed a review of Provident Bank’s servicing of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages and its implementation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Loss Mitigation program. We selected Provident Bank based on an Office of Inspector General risk assessment of single-family lenders. The objective of the audit was to determine whether Provident Bank properly serviced FHA-insured mortgages and…

In accordance with the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to ensure the integrity and soundness of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Public and Indian Housing programs and to follow up on weaknesses identified in another review, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Pearsall, TX, to determine whether it followed Federal procurement and the State of Texas’ requirements when contracting for its interim…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted in an investigation into alleged violations by Reverse Mortgage Solutions, Inc., of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations related to its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program.  The investigation began due to a qui tam filed under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. (United States Code) 3729, in the U.S. District Court for…

In accordance with our regional audit plan, we performed a number of reviews of very small and small housing agencies located in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Region 6 jurisdiction.  We worked with HUD’s Office of Public and Indian Housing (PIH) and Departmental Enforcement Center and the Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) Office of Investigation to identify housing agencies with areas of concern. …

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and as part of our overall risk strategy, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Victoria, TX.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing and related grant programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements.  However, we limited our review to determining whether the…

We audited the State of New Jersey’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded Grants and Forgivable Loans to Small Businesses program.  We conducted the audit because the program was one of the largest funded economic revitalization programs in the State’s action plan and because the State had disbursed more than 37 percent of the funds allocated for the program as of September 2014.  Our objective was to determine…

We audited Prudential Huntoon Paige Associates, LTD’s underwriting of a $19.9 million mortgage loan to develop Amaranth at 544, a senior multifamily project located in Lewisville, TX.  We initiated the review based on the early default, assignment, and significant amount of the project.  Our objective was to determine whether Prudential underwrote and processed the loan for Amaranth according to the U.S. Department of Housing and…

Because of an anonymous complaint, we reviewed the Housing Authority of Bexar County, TX.  The complaint included allegations of improper procurement, improper use of Authority funds, misuse of the Authority’s credit card, and violations of Housing Choice Voucher regulations.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of…

We audited the State of New Jersey’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded Sandy Integrated Recovery Operations and Management System.  We conducted the audit based on the significant amount of funds associated with the system and the importance of the system to the successful implementation of the State’s Disaster Recovery grant.  Our objective was to determine whether the State procured services and products for…

We reviewed NTFN, Inc., based on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal to protect the integrity of the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) housing insurance and guarantee programs.  We selected NTFN because its loan default rate was the second highest in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area from July 2012 through June 2014.  NTFN originated 3,046 FHA loans in the…

We audited the City of Paterson, NJ’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program based on a risk analysis of the City’s program that considered the amount of funding, the risk score assigned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), our identification of potential issues, and Congress’ general interest in the HOME program.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether City officials had established and implemented…

Because of concerns identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Public Housing, we performed a review of the Housing Authority of the City of Lockney.  HUD alleged that the Authority’s previous executive director had a conflict-of-interest and received ineligible payments.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing in accordance with HUD requirements and…

HUD OIG assisted the U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Colorado, in the civil investigation of MetLife Bank, N.A.  MetLife had its principal place of business in Convent Station, NJ.  MetLife became an approved direct endorsement lender under HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) program on April 5, 2007.  The direct endorsement program authorizes private-sector mortgage…

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and because of a complaint filed with the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and issues identified by new management, we performed a review of the Rotan Housing Authority (Authority).  The complainant and Authority management alleged that the Authority maintained its records in a disorderly fashion, lacked supporting documentation for rental income, had large rental…

In accordance with our annual audit plan to review public housing programs and because of an anonymous complaint and issues identified by the San Antonio Office of Public Housing, we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Taylor, Taylor, TX.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority operated its public housing and related grant programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD)…

We audited the City of Passaic, NJ’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in support of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) goal of improving the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) execution of its fiscal responsibilities.  We selected the Authority based on a risk assessment of grantees administered by the HUD Newark, NJ, field office that considered grantee funding, HUD’s 2013 risk score, and prior…

We audited Cornerstone Home Lending, formerly known as Cornerstone Mortgage Company.  We selected Cornerstone based upon a high default rate at Cornerstone’s Branch 87 in 2007 through 2009.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether Cornerstone (1) complied with HUD and Federal Housing Administration (FHA) regulations when originating and underwriting FHA-insured mortgages and (2) implemented a quality control plan that met…