We audited the City of Chicago’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  We selected the City’s Program based upon our analysis of risk factors related to Program grantees in Region 5’s jurisdiction.  Our objectives were to determine whether the City complied with HUD’s requirements regarding (1) leases between rental new construction projects’ owners and households, (2) use and reporting of Program income, and (3) monitoring of…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), in conjunction with the Department, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the U.S. Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of Michigan and Northern District of Ohio, conducted a joint investigation of U.S. Bank National Association’s (U.S. Bank) loan originations, underwriting practices, and quality control program for Federal Housing…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s fiscal year 2013 compliance with the user fee requirements in Office of Management and Budget Circular A-25 and the Chief Financial Officers (CFO) Act of 1990.  We initiated the audit based on observations in our audit of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) annual lender renewal process (Audit Report No. 2010-KC-0002, issued August 6, 2010…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited the City of Colorado Springs (City) in response to a citizen’s complaint received by our office.  The complainant alleged the City committed HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds without written agreements, delayed the reporting of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) program income in a timely manner, and improperly charged some of…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, Denver, CO in response to issues discovered during a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) - Denver, Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), monitoring review.  Issues identified during HUD’s review included improperly accounting for administrative costs and the use of grant funds…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Federal Housing Administrations single family mortgage seven-loan limit.  We initiated this review based on issues identified in an audit of the Wyoming Housing Opportunities Association in memorandum 2013-DE-1801.  Our objective was to determine the impact of investor loan properties on the FHA fund.  We found multiple instances of…

We audited Peoples Home Equity, Inc.(Peoples), a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) approved nonsupervised direct endorsement lender located in Brentwood, TN.  We selected Peoples based on its high default rates.  The audit was part of our annual audit plan to review single family programs and lenders.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether Peoples complied with HUD requirements when it originated and underwrote FHA…

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 completed the 18th audit report in our ongoing review of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery Assistance funds awarded to the State of New York in the aftermath of the September 11, 2011, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City.  During the audit period, April 1, 2012 through March 31, 2013, LMDC…

We audited the Memphis, TN, Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 audit plan.  We selected the Authority because it had a large program, receiving about $40 million in yearly funding, and was part of the OIG’s annual audit plan.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority’s inspection process adequately ensured that its units were in material compliance with…

We audited Prudential’s underwriting of a $49 million mortgage loan to develop the Preserve at Alafia, a multifamily project located in Riverview, FL.  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 the Preserve of Alafia according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (…

We audited Lake Village of Fairlane Apartments as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 annual audit plan.  We selected the project based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Detroit Office of Multifamily Housing Programs.  Our objective was to determine whether the project’s owner and former management agents operated the project in accordance with HUD’s requirements and the…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of property flipping as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2013 annual audit plan, which includes contributing to the protection of the integrity of housing insurance and guarantee programs.  Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD had adequate oversight of its property-flipping waiver. HUD did not always (1) ensure that lenders complied with…

We audited the public housing program of the Housing Authority of the City of Spartanburg, SC, because of a citizen’s complaint.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority’s performance in the areas of financial operations, procurement, and inventory practices met HUD requirements. The Authority used HUD program funds for ineligible or unsupported expenses, and failed to maintain an accurate accounting and financial control…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program based on our strategic goal to improve the integrity of HUD’s single-family insurance programs and because of residency issues identified in prior audits of the HECM program.  Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s Office of Single Family Housing had effective controls to ensure that HECM loan…

We audited the State of Vermont, Department of Housing and Community Development’s disaster recovery programs.  We initiated this audit because of the significant funding awarded and the Boston Office of Community Planning and Development’s concerns about the State’s capacity to administer this funding.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the State administered its disaster recovery programs effectively and efficiently in…

We audited the Lake Village of Auburn Hills multifamily project as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 annual audit plan.  We selected the project based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Detroit Office of Multifamily Housing.  Our objective was to determine whether the project’s owner and former management agents operated the project in accordance with the regulatory agreement…

We initiated a review of the City of Los Angeles’ Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program due to concerns that CDBG-funded assets may be at risk.  We performed our review to address questionable costs identified during a prior Office of Inspector General review (audit report 2014-LA-0001).  Our objective was to determine whether the City maintained the required documentation for its CDBG-funded projects to support its vested…

We audited EverBank’s Preforeclosure Sale Program because it had the highest Florida preforeclosure sale claims of all servicing lenders located in Florida and more than 50 percent of its Florida Federal Housing Administration (FHA) claims were from preforeclosure sales with more than $12.9 million paid from 2011 through 2013.  Our objective was to determine whether EverBank properly determined that mortgagors were eligible to participate…

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…