The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD), Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD’s Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loss mitigation program.  We initiated this audit due to our concern that FHA might have incurred costs while allowing lenders to make large amounts of money by modifying defaulted FHA-insured loans.  Our audit objective was to determine the extent to which loans modified under the FHA program…

At the request of the Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Houston, TX, Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, we conducted a review of Yale Court Apartments (project).  Our objective was to determine whether the project owner used the project funds in accordance with its regulatory agreement and HUD regulations. The former owner used more than $3.5 million of the project funds for ineligible and…

In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs, we reviewed the Beaumont Housing Authority, Beaumont, TX.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority’s controls over tenant and unit eligibility were sufficient to ensure that it administered its low-rent public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and guidance.…

We audited PK Management, LLC, a management agent of four apartment complexes in the Birmingham, AL, metropolitan area.  We initiated the review based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Birmingham Office of Multifamily Housing Programs.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Section 8 housing assistance payments made to PK Management for the four multifamily complexes were…

We audited the City of Jersey City, NJ’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program based on a risk assessment that considered the amount of funding, the risk score assigned to it by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and general congressional interest in the HOME program.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether City officials had established and implemented adequate controls to ensure that the HOME program…

We reviewed HUD’s San Juan, PR, Office of Community Planning and Development’s monitoring of the Vieques, PR, Sports City Complex project.  The review was performed based on indicators identified in the audit of the Vieques Sports City Complex, Office of the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs’ (OCMA) Puerto Rico State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Section 108 Loan Guarantee program.  More than 11 years had elapsed since HUD…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Office of Multifamily Housing Programs, based on an internal audit suggestion expressing concern that multifamily property owners took unauthorized distributions or owner advances with no consequence. Our audit objective was to determine whether HUD enforced the requirements of the regulatory agreements and HUD handbooks that pertain to owner…

We audited the Pontiac Housing Commission’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program based on our analysis of risk factors relating to the housing agencies in Region 5’s  jurisdiction.  Our objective was to determine whether the Commission complied with Federal, State, or its own requirements regarding its Family Self-Sufficiency program and conflicts of interest. The Commission did not always administer its Family Self-Sufficiency…

We audited the Ferndale Housing Commission’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 annual audit plan.  We selected the Commission based upon an analysis of risk factors related to public housing agencies in Region 5’s jurisdiction.   Our objectives were to determine whether the Commission appropriately (1) calculated housing assistance payments, (2) maintained required…

We audited Miami-Dade County’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  The County was selected for review because (1) our audit plan included audits of HOME grantees; (2) the Miami U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Community Planning and Development, ranked the County as high risk in its 2012 and 2013 risk assessments; and (3) HUD’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) had not performed an audit of the County’s…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited the Nevada, MO Housing Authority because available reports indicated that 95.4 percent of the Authority’s public housing tenants were exempt from the community service and self-sufficiency requirement (requirement), which was higher than the State’s average of 88.5 percent.  Also, this audit will complement our upcoming nationwide internal audit of…

We audited the State of New Jersey’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded Homeowner Resettlement program.  We conducted the audit based on the substantial amount of funds the State allocated to the program.  Our objective was to determine whether the State used Block Grant Disaster Recovery funds for its Homeowner Resettlement program to assist eligible homeowners in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of…

We conducted a review of Home Forward (previously named the Housing Authority of Portland, OR) based on concerns noted during our ongoing internal audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing authorities’ compliance with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements.  Our review objective was to determine whether Home Forward complied with Federal lobbying disclosure requirements and…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) process for awarding asset repositioning fees (ARF) to public housing agencies (PHA) with approved demolition and dispostion projects.  We initiated this review based upon issues disclosed during our review of Public Housing Capital Fund program grants to PHAs with approved demolition and dispostion projects.  The audit objective was to determine whether HUD had…

We assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky in the investigation of NDC Real Estate Management, Inc. (NDC).  The investigation began due to a qui tam filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.  The False Claims Act allows private persons to file suit for violations of the False Claims Act on behalf of the Government.  A suit filed by an individual on behalf of the…

We assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, in conducting an investigation of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., and JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase).  The investigation began due to a qui tam filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.  The False Claims Act allows private persons to file suit for violations of the False Claims Act on behalf of the Government.  A suit filed by an…

We audited the State of New Jersey’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded tourism marketing program.  We conducted the audit based on a congressional request to review the State’s Hurricane Sandy tourism marketing contract bidding process and the appropriateness of the content of its marketing campaign.  Our objectives were to determine whether the content of the marketing campaign was proper and whether the…

We audited the Jackson Housing Commission’s Section 8 program as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 annual audit plan.  We selected the Commission based on our analysis of the risk factors relating to public housing agencies in Region 5’s jurisdiction.  Our objective was to determine whether the Commission administered its program in accordance with HUD’s and its own program requirements. The Commission generally…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Meridian’s Queen City apartments at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Single Family Office of Asset Management.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority acquired, financed, and managed the purchase of the apartments in accordance with applicable regulations and determine the cause of the Queen City apartments’ Federal Housing…

We audited the City of Richmond’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program 1 (NSP1) in response to HUD Office of Community Planning and Development’s concerns over the City’s management of its NSP1.  Our objective was to determine whether the City administered its NSP1 in accordance with requirements related to procurement and cost eligibility. The City did not administer its NSP1 in accordance with requirements related to procurement and cost…