We reviewed the State of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) program.  We selected the State of Florida in accordance with our goal to review disaster funding and based on a congressional request for us to conduct disaster capacity reviews for recent disasters, including Hurricanes Hermine, Matthew, and Irma.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the...

We audited the Pinellas County Housing Authority’s Rental Assistance Demonstration Program (RAD) conversion to the Section 8 Project-Based Voucher program and compliance after the conversion.  We selected the Authority for review in keeping with the goals of our annual audit plan.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its RAD conversion in compliance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (...

We audited the City of Margate’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grants 1 and 3 in accordance with our audit plan to improve the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) execution of and accountability for grant funds.  In addition, HUD requested that we review this auditee because a forensic investigation initiated by the City found issues with record keeping, misappropriation of funds, and overages regarding City...

We audited the Yabucoa Volunteers of America Elderly Housing, Inc., Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly Program.  We selected the Yabucoa housing project for review based on concerns regarding the slow progress of the project as noted during the audit of the Puerto Rico Department of Housing multifamily special escrow funds.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether Volunteers used Section 202 funds in...

We audited the Municipality of San Juan’s Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) program.  We selected the Municipality for review as part of our strategic plan based on the large amount of ESG funds approved and because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) classified the Municipality as a high-risk grantee in its 2016 risk assessment.  Our main objective was to determine whether the Municipality administered its ESG...

We audited the City of Jacksonville, FL’s HOME Investment Partnerships program as part of the activities in our annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the City administered its HOME program in accordance with applicable U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements.  Specifically, we evaluated whether the City (1) properly supported HOME commitments in the Integrated Disbursement and...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts in the civil investigation of First American Mortgage Trust.  First American has its principal place of business in Brighton, MA, and does business as NXTLoan.Com Corp., a Delaware corporation.  First American is the parent company of NXTL. On October 18, 2016, First...

We audited the Office of the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs’ (OCMA) Puerto Rico State Community Development Block Grant program.  We selected OCMA for review based on concerns regarding the slow progress of the Municipality of San Sebastian’s fine arts center.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether OCMA effectively used State Block Grant funds on a fine arts center that met a national objective of the program and...

We reviewed the Miami-Dade County Homeless Trust’s Continuum of Care Program because our office had not audited this entity.  In addition, this assignment was in accordance with our annual audit plan and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) 2014-2018 strategic objective to end homelessness.  Our objective was to determine whether the Trust ensured that Program funds were used for eligible activities and...

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded the Miami-Dade NSP Consortium more than $89.3 million in Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) 2 funds.  We audited two of the consortium members, Neighborhood Housing Services of South Florida, the lead member, and the Urban League of Greater Miami, in accordance with our annual audit plan.  The audit objective was to determine whether the two members used NSP2...

We audited the Housing Choice Voucher program at the Boston Housing Authority because of the size of the program, the time that had elapsed since our last audit, and the inherent program risk.  The Authority operates the second largest Housing Choice Voucher program in New England.  In addition, our office had not audited any Authority program since 2010.  The Housing Choice Voucher program is inherently risky as Congress...

We audited the Puerto Rico Department of Housing’s multifamily special escrow funds.  This audit was the result of a referral from the San Juan Office of Multifamily Housing Programs.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Department administered and disbursed its escrow funds in accordance with its memorandum of understanding with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and whether funded...

We audited the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) assistance grant provided to the City of Springfield, MA, by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist in disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts resulting from damages caused by presidentially declared disasters.  The audit objective was to determine whether the City properly followed Federal procurement requirements and whether...

Sons of Divine Providence did not properly oversee the HUD-insured nursing home to ensure that it operated in accordance with its regulatory agreement.  By not informing HUD of the lawsuits, the changes in management agents, and the loans, Sons of Divine Providence did not provide HUD the necessary data to understand the risk to the HUD insurance fund.  However, when Sons of Divine Providence sold the nursing home and paid off the HUD...

We audited the Broward County Housing Authority’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2016 annual audit plan.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its program in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and its own requirements. The Authority did not always comply with HUD’s requirements and its own administrative policies...

We audited P.K. Management Group, Inc. (PKMG), a contracted field service manager in HUD’s real estate-owned Management and Marketing III program, as part of the activities included in our 2016 annual audit plan and because it was the sole contractor performing property preservation and protection services for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-acquired properties located in Illinois in Region’s 5 jurisdiction.  Our...

We audited the Municipality of Bayamon’s Emergency Shelter Grants and Emergency Solutions Grants programs.  We selected this auditee based on congressional and hotline complaints alleging that the Municipality improperly used Emergency funds to transport people from Puerto Rico to mainland U.S. cities to receive rehabilitation treatment.  Our main audit objectives were to determine whether allegations included in the complaints had...

We audited the Somerville Housing Authority’s public housing and Public Housing Capital Fund programs as part of our fiscal year 2016 regional audit plan.  We initiated our review because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Boston Office of Public and Indian Housing had not monitored the programs in the past 5 years and we had not audited the Authority in the past 10 years.  Our audit objectives were to...

We audited the City of Miami Beach’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program in accordance with our annual audit plan because it had projects overseen by the same administration questioned in our audit of the City’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program. In addition, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Miami Office of Community Planning and Development ranked the City as high risk in its 2015 risk assessment. Our...

We audited the City of Miami Beach’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program, in accordance with our annual audit plan, because (1) the Miami U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development ranked the City as high risk in its 2015 risk assessment and (2) HUD’s onsite monitoring review identified concerns with the City’s administration of the HOME program.  Our objective was to determine...