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 Commonwealth of Massachusetts’ (State) Small Cities Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program because the State was the largest recipient of CDBG funds in New England.  HUD awarded the State more than $88 million in CDBG funding for program years 2015, 2016, and 2017.  In addition, we had not audited any of the State’s community planning and development programs in the last 10 years.  Our audit objective was…

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…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Snohomish County’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) entitlement program because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), as part of its 2014 monitoring report, noted findings and concerns related to the County’s use of program income.  In addition, the County’s 2013 risk assessment concluded that procurement was an…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited King County, WA’s Shelter Plus Care program to determine whether King County met the matching requirements for its Shelter Plus Care grants.  We selected King County because it received the most Shelter Plus Care funding in HUD’s Region 10 (Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington). While it was able to provide the necessary service match support…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited Pierce County because it received almost $9 million in total funding in Washington State for its community planning and development grants under the 2011 and 2012 notices of funding availability. The County claimed nearly $242,000 in ineligible matching funds for three HOME projects.  Since these three projects had already received HOME funding and…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General reviewed a complaint against a project that was partially funded by the Office of Community Planning and Development’s HOME Investment Partnerships program.  Our objective was to determine whether the allegations in hotline complaint number HL-2013-0804 were valid.  The complainant alleged that while Clare View Seniors Apartments, LP, was in the process…

We audited the City of Worcester’s administration of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.  We selected the City for review based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Boston, MA, Office of Community Planning and Development.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the City established adequate controls to ensure that the CDBG activities were eligible and supported…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited the City of Seattle’s Community Development Block Grant- Recovery (CDBG-R) program to determine whether the City used its CDBG-R funds in accordance with HUD and Recovery Act requirements and subgrantee expenditures were appropriate, eligible, and supported. We selected the City for review because it received $3.26 million in CDBG-R funds, more than…

We reviewed the administration expenses charged to the City of Brockton’s Community Development Block Grant in response to a complaint alleging that the City was charging the Community Development Block Grant program for City expenses. The objectives of our review were to determine whether the City (1) properly accounted for and reported its planning and administrative expenses for its Community Development Block Grant and (2) prepared accurate…

We reviewed The Community Builders, a nonprofit development and asset management firm that received a $78.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Congress established the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 to grant funds to States, local governments, nonprofits, and a consortium of nonprofit entities for the purpose of stabilizing communities…

The U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, audited the Washington State Housing Finance Commission (the Commission) to determine whether the Commission established eligible grant projects, reported tax credit assistance program (TCAP) information into Recovery.gov accurately and completely, and paid eligible TCAP expenditures in accordance with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requirements…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of the Inspector General, audited the Washington State Department of Commerce (State). Our audit objective was to determine whether the State disbursed Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) grant in accordance with American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 requirements. The State paid for HPRP services for ineligible participants and participants whose…

We reviewed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development’s (CPD) risk assessment process. We initiated the review as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether CPD had established and properly implemented a risk assessment process that used appropriate measures to determine risk and identify grantees for monitoring. We found…

We conducted a capacity review of the operations of the City of Brockton’s (City) grantee, Building a Better Brockton, Inc. (recipient), which has responsibility for administering the City’s NSP. Our objective was to determine whether the City and/or its recipient had the capacity to effectively and efficiently administer its NSP under the provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) and the American Recovery and…

We performed an audit of the City of Boston’s (City) Department of Neighborhood Development (Department). We selected the City based upon the results of our previous audit of the City’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) and the significance of the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) funds awarded. Our objective was to determine whether the City had the capacity to effectively and efficiently administer its NSP under the provisions…

We audited the State of Washington’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The audit was part of our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan. We selected the State because it was responsible for the distribution of funds to the entitlement areas, as well as to nonentitlement areas for the state of Washington. Our objective was to determine whether the State’s Program implementation was compliant with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development…