U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government Here’s how you know

The .gov means it’s official.

Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you're on a federal government site.

The site is secure.

The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Hotline

Report Fraud, Waste and Abuse
September 13, 2017
2017-LA-1008
2017-LA-1008.pdf

We audited the City of Las Vegas’, Homebuyer Assistance Program under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Neighborhood Stabilization Program 3 (NSP3).  We initiated this review because of a prior HUD Office of Inspector General audit of Evergreen Home Loans issued September 12, 2016 (audit report 2016-LA-1011).  The Evergreen Home Loans audit report identified 14 loans that received home-buyer assistance as part of the City’s NSP3 Homebuyer Assistance Program.  Contrary to HUD requirements, the home-buyer assistance agreements included recapture provisions that required borrowers to repay more than the assistance provided.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the City administered its NSP3 home-buyer assistance agreements and payments in accordance with HUD requirements.

The City did not administer its NSP3 home-buyer assistance agreements and payments in accordance with HUD requirements.  Specifically, the City included language in its agreements that did not meet HUD’s recapture requirements, and it did not adequately track or document NSP3 payments and activities.  As a result, the City’s agreements may require 35 recipients who received $488,519 in assistance to repay more than required.  In addition, the City’s inadequate tracking and documentation for overpayment of closing costs resulted in (1) recipients’ overpaying $95, (2) inadequate tracking of $12,275 in potential overpayments from recipients, and (3) the City’s improperly receiving $1,495 in NSP3 funds for closing costs not incurred.

We recommend that the Acting Director of HUD’s San Francisco Office of Community Planning and Development require the City to (1) modify the recapture provisions of the 35 loan agreements totaling $488,519 to meet HUD requirements, (2) repay $95 to program recipients who overpaid on their agreements, (3) develop policies and procedures for tracking overpayments to ensure that program recipients are not at risk of overpaying an additional $12,275, and (4) repay the program $1,495 for closing costs not incurred.

Recommendations
Recommendation Status Date Issued Summary
2017-LA-1008-001-A Closed September 13, 2017 Modify the recapture provisions of the 35 home-buyer assistance agreements totaling $488,519 to meet HUD recapture requirements relating to the sales price, closing costs, and net proceeds.
2017-LA-1008-001-B Closed September 13, 2017 Update its procedures to ensure that any additional home-buyer assistance agreements contain recapture provisions that meet HUD recapture requirements relating to the sales price, closing costs, and net proceeds.
2017-LA-1008-001-C Closed September 13, 2017 Train its staff to ensure that recapture amounts do not exceed net sales proceeds.
2017-LA-1008-002-A Closed September 13, 2017 Revise and implement written policies and procedures for managing and accurately tracking all NSP3 activity to ensure that the $12,275 in identified closing cost refunds and any additional refunds identified in recommendation 2B are not overpaid by recipients.
2017-LA-1008-002-B Closed September 13, 2017 Identify any additional closing cost refunds for NSP3 properties using the general ledger, DRGR supporting documentation, and the property file and either repay the recipients from non-Federal funds or update its tracking spreadsheet.
2017-LA-1008-002-C Closed September 13, 2017 Repay $95 from non-Federal funds to the two recipients who paid more than the assistance provided (appendix E).
2017-LA-1008-002-D Closed September 13, 2017 Repay the program $1,495 for closing cost expenses not incurred from non-Federal funds and remove the expenses from program records if the City incorrectly recorded the refunds as program income.
2017-LA-1008-002-E Closed September 13, 2017 Reclassify home-buyer assistance expenses and refunds from the City’s NSP3 ARR program to its NSP3 Homebuyer Assistance Program in DRGR and the general ledger.
2017-LA-1008-002-F Closed September 13, 2017 Consolidate and reconcile all NSP3 home-buyer assistance tracking spreadsheets and the general ledger with HUD’s DRGR to ensure that all information is accurate and up to date.
2017-LA-1008-002-G Closed September 13, 2017 Develop and implement written policies and procedures to periodically reconcile all NSP3 tracking spreadsheets to ensure that data remain accurate and up to date.
2017-LA-1008-002-H Closed September 13, 2017 Provide training to all employees responsible for NSP3 to ensure that the City adequately determines repayment amounts and tracks and records NSP3 activities.