We audited the Long Branch Housing Authority based on the results of our previous audits of the Asbury Park and Red Bank Housing Authorities, which received management services and technical assistance from Long Branch for several years. The objective of the audit was to determine whether Long Branch properly handled income and expenses associated with its agreements with Asbury Park and Red Bank in accordance with requirements. Long Branch did…

We completed a corrective action verification (CAV) of recommendations from prior Office of Inspector General (OIG) audit reports on the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) government purchase cards and government travel cards, both issued January 31, 2020. During our CAV, we followed up on all 10 recommendations from OIG audit report 2020-KC-0001 and all 13 recommendations from OIG audit report 2020-KC-0002. Our CAV…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) (ESG-CV) program. Our audit objective was to determine what challenges ESG-CV grant recipients faced in implementing the program and using grant funds. We used a survey questionnaire to gather feedback and insight directly from the 362 recipients of ESG-CV grants. At the time we…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) fiscal year 2021 compliance with the Payment Integrity Information Act of 2019 (PIIA) and implementation of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance.  PIIA was enacted to prevent and reduce improper payments and require each agency’s inspector general to perform an annual review of the agency’s compliance with PIIA.  Our objectives were to assess (1) whether…

The Inspector General Act of 1978 requires the Inspector General to prepare semiannual reports summarizing the activities of the Office of Inspector General for the preceding six-month period. The semiannual reports are intended to keep the Secretary and Congress fully informed of significant findings, progress the Agency has made, and recommendations for improvement. Open Recommendations Office of Audit Office of Evaluation

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) initiated this investigation upon receipt of information alleging a GS-15 Program Analyst formerly employed within HUD’s Office of the Chief Information Officer may have provided nonpublic HUD information to representatives of a private firm. The OIG’s investigation found that the employee provided a HUD Budget Portfolio document not authorized…

In August and September 2020, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD or Department) Office of Inspector General (OIG) received information from multiple sources alleging that Lynne Patton, then-Regional Administrator, Region II, violated various federal ethics laws by participating in the production of a video that later aired at the Republican National Convention on August 27, 2020.[1] In the video (RNC video), four New York…

We audited the Housing Authority of Plainfield, NJ’s administration of its public housing programs.  We selected the Authority based on a risk analysis of public housing agencies in New Jersey that considered the size of the agency, the amount of operating and capital funds received, and previous work conducted by the Office of Inspector General.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its Public…

We audited the State of Florida’s Housing Repair and Replacement Program (HRRP), one of the programs that the State developed to address its unmet disaster recovery housing needs because of Hurricane Irma in 2017.  We audited this program due to the large amount of Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding allocated of $346.2 million.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the State administered its…

We conducted a limited review of nursing home owners to identify their operational challenges and needs of nursing homes in responding to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.  Our objective was to determine the biggest challenges operators of Section 232 nursing home facilities face related to the COVID-19 pandemic and whether nursing homes are prepared to meet their future financial obligations.  Most of the owners who…

Develop a control to detect loans that did not maintain the required flood insurance to put $1.5 billion to better use by avoiding potential future costs to the FHA insurance fund from inadequately insured properties. Corrective Action Taken In November 2022, FHA published the Acceptance of Private Flood Insurance for FHA-Insured Mortgages final rule (Docket No. FR-6084-F-02) in the Federal Register and issued Mortgagee Letter 2022-18,…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) grant closeout processes and compliance with the Grants Oversight and New Efficiency (GONE) Act.  The GONE Act required that we conduct a risk assessment to determine whether an audit of HUD’s grant closeout process was warranted.  We initiated this review based on the results of our risk assessment conducted in fiscal year 2018, which found that an audit was…

The Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) directs Inspectors General to conduct an annual evaluation of the agency information security program.  FISMA, Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) establish information technology (IT) security guidance and standards for Federal agencies. We conducted this evaluation to assess…

The 2022-2026 HUD OIG Strategic Plan is our governing document for how we will build on our progress and continue evolving over the next 4 years. It is designed to paint a clear and compelling picture of where we are headed. We commit to the following 3 goals, knowing that they will require continued investment in our workforce and staying true to our core values. Strategic Goal 1 - Influence positive outcomes for HUD programs and…

Please find attached an advance copy of our office’s Audit Report No. 2022-CH-0002, entitled, “HUD’s Transitioning of Offices from Mandatory to Maximum Telework During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” which we initiated in response to your June 2020 letter. We focused our audit on whether HUD complied with its initial internal guidance1 when transitioning offices from mandatory to maximum telework during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing HUD employees to…

The Federal Information Security Modernization Act of 2014 (FISMA) requires all federal agencies to conduct independent security technical verification testing on a sampling of information systems annually.  In conjunction with our fiscal year 2021 FISMA evaluation (2021-OE-0001), we conducted a targeted security testing assessment of sample systems that resulted in a Topic Brief.  The objective of this application vulnerability…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) transitioning of offices from mandatory to maximum telework during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, based on a request from Representative Gerald Connolly, to review whether HUD was employing best practices and existing guidance when deciding whether or when to require Federal employees to return to their offices.  Transitioning an office to maximum…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of its public housing agencies’ (PHA) reasonable accommodation policies and procedures.  We initiated this audit because we identified an increase in housing discrimination complaints based on a failure to provide a reasonable accommodation, even as the total number of all housing discrimination complaints was decreasing.  Our audit objective was to…

We audited the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Continuum of Care (CoC) program.  The audit was initiated because of the homelessness crisis in the City of Los Angeles, which has the highest number of unsheltered people in the United States.  In addition, the Los Angeles city controller issued a report in 2019, criticizing the Authority for falling short of City of Los Angeles homeless outreach goals.  (See Background and…

We audited the Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority’s management of its Commodore Perry Homes development.  We selected the Authority based on congressional interest.  Half of the development’s buildings were demolished more than 20 years ago, and the majority of the remaining buildings and units have been vacant for years without redevelopment activity.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority properly…