The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed a review of The Retreat at Church Ranch bank records based on our audit conducted of the project.  Our review disclosed that the owner allegedly made payments for personal expenses from the project’s bank account.  We requested that HUD pursue proceedings against the owner. On July 22, 2015, HUD notified the owner of his proposed…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development – Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Federal Housing Administrations rules and requirements pertaining to nonprofits purchasing real estate-owned (REO) homes during the exclusive listing period.  We initiated this review based on information found during an audit of a nonprofit that purchased homes during the exclusive listing period in memorandum 2015-DE-1801.  Our objective…

We audited the City of Baton Rouge and Parish of East Baton Rouge’s (City) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program as part of the Office of Inspector General’s annual audit plan to review community planning and development funds.  The audit objective was to determine whether the City properly administered and adequately documented its CDBG program activities in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD…

We audited the City of New York, Office of Management and Budget’s administration of its Temporary Disaster Assistance Program (TDAP) funded with Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist in the disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts resulting from Hurricane Sandy.  The disaster recovery funds were authorized by Congress under the…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General audited Homewood Terrace Mutual Homes’ Section 8 housing assistance payments program due to concerns over poor financial reporting and potentially inappropriate involvement by one of its board members.  Our objective was to determine whether Homewood Terrace conducted timely reexaminations, correctly calculated and requested assistance payments, and…

We audited the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) assistance grant provided to the State of Rhode Island by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist in disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts resulting from damages caused by Hurricane Sandy.  The audit objective was to determine whether State officials obligated and disbursed the grant funds in a timely manner in accordance with HUD…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General, audited the State of Missouri’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Disaster Recovery program because it was initially awarded more than $103 million in two CDBG Disaster Recovery grants for storms and flooding that occurred in 2008 and we had not previously audited the State’s activities regarding these funds.  Our audit objective was to…

We performed the 20th 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 in New York City.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether LMDC disbursed CDBG Disaster Recovery funds in accordance…

We audited the County of Riverside’s Community Development Block Grant program due to the delayed expenditure of funds for fiscal year 2014 and previous audit findings regarding policies and procedures.  The Office of Inspector General had conducted a review of the County and identified issues with its program-specific policies and procedures, which were addressed (audit report number 2010-LA-1004).  Our objective was to determine…

We are conducting an audit of the City of Jersey City’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program based upon an Office of Inspector General (OIG) hotline complaint containing several allegations, one of which was that the City’s Division of Community Development’s lead risk assessor was not qualified or producing monitoring reports for rehabilitation work funded under the City’s Homeowner Rehabilitation Program.  The objective of…

We audited the City of Rochester’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program to address our audit plan priority to improve financial management controls over CDBG grants.  We selected this grantee based on a risk analysis of grantees administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Buffalo field office, which considered funds received and the risk score assigned by HUD.  The City received more than $…

We reviewed the City of Niagara Falls’ Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.  We selected this auditee based on our risk assessment of CDBG grantees administered through the Buffalo, NY, field office, which considered the City’s funding, HUD’s risk assessment of the City, and prior Office of Inspector General (OIG) audits.  The City received more than $2.2 million in each of its program years 2013 and 2014; was ranked…

We reviewed the general and application controls over the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) Single Family Insurance System (SFIS) and Single Family Insurance Claims subsystem (Claims) as part of the internal control assessments required for the fiscal year 2015 financial statement audit under the Chief Financial Officer’s Act of 1990.  Our objective was to evaluate the general and application controls over SFIS and Claims for…

We audited the Municipality of Toa Alta’s Section 108 Loan Guarantee program.  This audit was the result of a referral from the San Juan Office of Community Planning and Development.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether program funds were effectively used to meet a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program national objective and provide the intended benefits and whether the Municipality complied with loan…

We are conducting an audit survey of Saltillo Assisted Living (project) based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Departmental Enforcement Center and the activities included in our 2015 annual audit plan.  Our survey objective is to determine whether the owners and management agents of Saltillo Assisted Living complied with the executed regulatory agreement and HUD’s requirements.  Our…

We completed a review of Provident Bank’s servicing of Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured mortgages and its implementation of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Loss Mitigation program. We selected Provident Bank based on an Office of Inspector General risk assessment of single-family lenders. The objective of the audit was to determine whether Provident Bank properly serviced FHA-insured mortgages and…

We audited EdgeAlliance, Inc.’s Continuum of Care program funds for The Daniel R. Ruscitti Phoenix House (project).  The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2015 annual audit plan.  We selected the project for review based upon a citizen’s complaint.  Our objectives were to determine whether EdgeAlliance complied with Federal requirements in its (1) maintenance of financial management systems for program funds and…

In response to a request made by the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Community Planning and Development (CPD), the Office of Inspector General, Office of Evaluation reviewed State qualified action plans to determine whether States included alternative building standards that are equivalent to Energy Star® building standard. CPD tracks HUD funded new home constructions that meet the Energy Star® building standard as they contribute…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General (OIG) performed a review of The Retreat at Church Ranch bank records based on our audit conducted of the project.  Our review disclosed that the owner allegedly made payments for personal expenses from the project’s bank account.  We requested that HUD pursue proceedings against the owner. On March 31, 2015, HUD filed a complaint seeking more than…

We audited loanDepot, LLC, based on a referral from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Quality Assurance Division detailing a separate lender that originated Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loans containing ineligible downpayment assistance gifts.  The focus on loans with Golden State Finance Authority (Golden State) gifts was a result of a separate audit (2015-LA-1009) on loanDepot’s use of…