Departments are required by law to develop and maintain governance structures, controls, and processes to safeguard resources and assets. A robust fraud risk framework helps to ensure that programs fulfill their intended purpose and that funds are spent effectively. HUD relies on public housing authorities (PHAs) to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse in its housing programs.  Therefore, we audited the New York City Housing…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles’ management of lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards in its public housing units.  We selected the Authority based on our assessment of the risks of lead‐based paint in public housing agencies’ (PHA) housing developments, including the age of buildings, the number of units, household demographics, and reported cases of childhood lead poisoning.  The audit…

We audited the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) with the objective of evaluating HCD’s fraud risk management practices for its Emergency Solutions Grants Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (ESG CARES Act) program and assessing the maturity of its efforts to prevent, detect, and respond to fraud.  Fraudulent activity in the ESG CARES Act program can lead to significant financial…

We selected the State of California’s 2018 disaster owner-occupied rehabilitation and reconstruction program to audit after an internal risk assessment of disaster grantees showed the grant was newer and had not yet disbursed the majority of its funding.  The State received more than $1 billion for the 2018 disasters.  Our audit objective was to determine what the State is considering and to what extent resilience-based…

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…

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…

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…

We audited Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County’s (NHSLA) Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2).  The audit was based on a complaint alleging questionable NSP2 financial activity, double payments to contractors, and payments to contractors for incomplete work.  Our Office of Audit received the referred complaint in late 2018.  However, because the complaint included concerns regarding activities and…

We audited the City of Compton’s Neighborhood Stabilization Programs (NSP) 1 and 3 due to a referral made by our Office of Investigation because of concerns related to ongoing issues at the City and complaints received about the City’s administration of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funds. In addition, HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development rated the City as high risk for administering program funds…

We audited the Los Angeles County Development Authority’s Family Self-Sufficiency Program due to a hotline complaint (HC-2019-4215) alleging that the Authority did not use its program funds in compliance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the Authority met its program goals and objectives to assist eligible families in becoming self-sufficient…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City Long Beach’s Housing Choice Voucher Program based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Los Angeles Office of Public Housing due to concerns regarding its financial activity control weaknesses.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its Housing Choice Voucher Program in accordance with Program…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG), assisted HUD’s Office of Program Enforcement in a civil investigation of Pacific Horizon Bancorp, Inc., and two former loan officers at Pacific Horizon.  Pacific Horizon has its principal place of business in La Crescenta, CA. Based on OIG’s civil investigation, on April 2, 2019, HUD notified Pacific Horizon and the two loan officers…

We performed the 23rd review of the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation’s (LMDC) administration of the $2.783 billion in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery funds awarded to the State of New York in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City.  This review was performed in response to a congressional mandate that we continuously audit the…

We audited the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) Housing Choice Voucher Program.  We selected HPD for review based on its size and because we had not conducted an audit of its Housing Choice Voucher Program.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether HPD ensured that its program units met HUD’s housing quality standards and whether it abated housing assistance payments when…

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of San Diego’s intergovernmental agreement due to the results of our completed internal auditability survey of public housing agencies with intergovernmental agreements.  The auditability survey identified public housing authorities with intergovernmental agreements for potential external reviews due to a recent external audit the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (…

We audited the Compton Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher Program, based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Los Angeles Office of Public Housing, due to concerns regarding its financial activity control weaknesses.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its Housing Choice Voucher Program in accordance with program requirements, with an…

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles’ intergovernmental agreements due to our Public and Indian Housing Intergovernmental Agreements Auditability Survey.  The objective of that review was to identify public housing agencies with intergovernmental agreements for potential external reviews due to a previous audit (audit report 2018-LA-1008), which identified the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles…

We audited the State of New York’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded New York Rising Buyout and Acquisition program.  We initiated this audit based on observations related to the appraised fair market values made during a previous audit (2015-NY-1010) of the State’s program.  Our objectives were to determine whether the State ensured that (1) the appraised fair market values used to determine award…

We audited the State of New York’s Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery-funded New York Rising Buyout and Acquisition program.  We initiated this audit due to concerns related to whether properties purchased were substantially damaged.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether the State ensured that properties purchased under the acquisition component of the program met applicable U.S. Department of…

We audited the City of San Bernardino, CA’s HOME Investment Partnerships program.  We audited the City based on the Region 9 Office of Inspector General’s 2016 risk analysis of Los Angeles area community planning and development grantees.  In addition, although the County of San Bernardino had been administering the City’s recent HOME grants, the City still had several of its own HOME activities underway and others that had…