We performed an audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) formula-based allocations related to five programs funded in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) to satisfy the Recovery Act mandate that “every taxpayer dollar spent on economic recovery be subject to unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability.” We reviewed all five HUD programs with funds which were allocated based...

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Richmond’s (Authority) procurement activities. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority followed procurement requirements. We found that the Authority could not adequately support that procurement activities were conducted in accordance with applicable requirements. As a result, it could not demonstrate that contracts were awarded to vendors whose proposals were most advantageous to...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed the front-end risk assessment (assessment) for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). Our objective was to determine whether the assessment complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) updated guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), as well as HUD’s streamlined assessment process. Our...

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General evaluated the front-end risk assessment for the Community Development Block Grant Recovery (CDBG-R) grant. Our objective was to determine whether the assessment complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) updated guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), as well as HUD’s streamlined assessment...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed HUD's assessment of the risk for the Tax Credit Assistance Program. Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s front-end risk assessment (assessment) of the Program complied with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance for implementing the Recovery Act and applicable HUD requirements. Our review of the final assessment for the...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General reviewed the front-end risk assessment (assessment) of the Green Retrofit Program (program) for Multifamily Housing for HUD. Our objective was to determine whether the assessment complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act); the Recovery Act’s Updated Implementing...

We completed a capacity review of the Los Angeles County Community Development Commission’s (County) Neighborhood Stabilization Program. We performed the audit because Housing and Economic Recovery Act reviews were part of the Office of the Inspector General’s annual audit plan and the program was identified as high risk. In addition, the County was awarded significant Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds of $16.8 million. Our objective...

We completed an audit of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Asset Control Area (ACA) program as a follow-up to a previous OIG audit of this program, and as a part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) strategic plan goals to improve HUD’s fiscal accountability. The objective of the audit was to determine whether HUD administered the ACA program in compliance with ACA program requirements and federal regulations....

We initiated a review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) monitoring of the performance-based contract administration contract administrators (PBCA) because of our prior audits that reported that HUD paid contract administrators $27.2 million during fiscal year 2006 for work HUD had eliminated and that the Los Angeles multifamily hub did not properly monitor its contractor. Our audit objective was to determine...

We completed an inspection to determine whether recipients of rental assistance payments under HUD’s Community Planning and Development (CPD) Programs also received rental subsidies under HUD’s Section 8 Housing Programs.  CPD funding for rental assistance to eligible individuals is provided through five separate grant programs—Shelter Plus Care, Supportive Housing Program, Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids, Section 8 Moderate...

We performed an inspection to determine whether HUD had appropriately recaptured unspent funds awarded from the more than $5.3 billion in Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery funding appropriated before 2005.  According to HUD data, as of August 2008, grant awards totaling $4.7 billion had no unspent funds; 121 grant awards had unspent funds, of which HUD recaptured or deobligated more than $17.5 million. Our inspection...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD's Office of Affordable Housing Programs’ (Office) oversight of HOME Investment Partnerships Program (Program) income (including recaptured Program funds). The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan to contribute to improving HUD’s execution and accountability of its fiscal responsibilities and our...

We audited the State of California’s Department of Housing and Community Development (State) to determine the basis and method used to allocate its $145 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grant funds. Our objective was to determine whether the methodology the State used in allocating its NSP grant funds was logical, equitable, and in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. The State...

For the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) front-end risk assessment (FERA) for the new Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing program (HPRP), we wanted to determine whether the FERA complied with the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) guidance for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act); the Recovery Act’s streamlined FERA process; and HUD Handbook 1840.1, REV-3, Departmental Management...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited HUD's requirement prohibiting lifetime registered sex offenders from admission to HUD-subsidized housing. Our audit objective was to determine the extent to which HUD-subsidized housing was occupied by lifetime registered sex offenders. HUD subsidized an estimated 2,094 to 3,046 households that included lifetime registered sex offenders. As a...

We performed a review of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) oversight of public housing agencies’ unrestricted and restricted Section 8 administrative fee reserves. We initiated this review because in our audits of two housing authorities, neither agency was able to clearly account for its administrative fee reserve funds and demonstrate that they were used appropriately. Our objective was to determine whether HUD had...

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Long Beach’s (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. The Authority was selected based on its having received low housing quality standards indicator scores for fiscal years 2006 and 2007 under HUD’s Section Eight Management Assessment Program in addition to a lack of recent on-site reviews by HUD. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority conducted housing...

We reviewed the City of Oakland’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program to determine whether it administered its program in accordance with federal requirements and its own policies and procedures. We selected the City for review due to its large annual HUD funding and because it had not been the subject of an OIG audit for several years. The City did not always administer its HOME program in accordance with federal requirements and its own...

We audited the City of Baldwin Park Housing Authority’s (Authority) Housing Choice Voucher program. We conducted the audit because the Authority received a “near troubled” status and scores of zero on five Section Eight Management Assessment Program indicators for fiscal year 2007. The objective was to determine whether the Authority determined housing assistance payments correctly and completed annual reexaminations in a timely manner. The...

We audited Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation (Financial Freedom) as part of our annual audit plan objective of improving the integrity of single-family insurance programs. Our objective was to determine whether Financial Freedom complied with U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) origination requirements for the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, commonly known as a reverse mortgage. Financial Freedom generally...