We audited the Allegheny County Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program because (1) the Authority received more than $27.3 million in Housing Choice Voucher funding in fiscal year 2011, (2) an article in the October 22, 2011, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described housing quality standards problems with a housing unit participating in the Authority’s program, and (3) we had never audited the Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher program. The…

We audited the City of Philadelphia, PA’s administration of its Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 grant that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 as part of our fiscal year 2012 audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether the grantee administered the grant in accordance with Recovery Act and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We found that the grantee generally…

We completed a review of the City of Phoenix’s (City) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP) grants NSP1 and NSP2. We performed the review because it supports the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s strategic plan to contribute to the oversight objectives of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the City received a $60 million grant as one of 56 NSP2 grantees. Our objective…

We audited Four Freedoms House of Philadelphia, Inc.’s management of its Section 202 housing project. We selected Four Freedoms for an audit because we received a complaint alleging that it mismanaged its Section 202 housing project. Our audit objective was to determine whether Four Freedoms managed its Section 202 housing project according to the requirements of its regulatory agreement and applicable HUD requirements. We focused the audit…

As part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) nationwide effort to review the foreclosure practices of the five largest Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage servicers (Bank of America, Wells Fargo Bank, CitiMortgage, JP Morgan Chase, and Ally Financial, Incorporated) we reviewed Ally Financial, Incorporated’s foreclosure and claims processes. In addition to this memorandum, OIG issued separate memorandums for each of the other…

We audited the Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loan process at MetLife Bank’s (lender) branch in Scottsdale, AZ, to determine whether the lender underwrote FHA-insured loans and implemented a quality control plan in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements. We selected the lender because it had an FHA default rate of 7.41 percent for loans underwritten in Arizona between April 1, 2009, and…

We audited Luzerne County, PA's administration of its Community Development Block Grant funds that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We selected the County for an audit because we received a complaint alleging that the County may have misappropriated Block Grant funds and because of our mandate to audit Recovery Act activities. Our audit objective was to determine whether the County obligated, expended…

We audited Housing Our Communities’ (subrecipient) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) subgrant from the City of Avondale. The audit was started primarily because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General’s (HUD OIG) audit plan includes objectives to review Housing and Economic Recovery Act grantees and because a previous HUD OIG audit of the City of Mesa found indications that the subrecipient did…

We audited the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s compliance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) conflict-of-interest and financial disclosure requirements as a result of the Authority’s initial failure to comply with an Office of Inspector General (OIG) subpoena during a previous American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 audit. (HUD OIG audit report number 2011-PH-1010, “The Philadelphia Housing Authority,…

We audited the Allegheny County Housing Authority’s administration of its Public Housing Capital Fund grants that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. We selected the Authority for audit because it received a $7.7 million formula grant and three competitive grants totaling $5.8 million, which was the third largest formula grant and the second largest amount of capital fund competitive grants awarded in…

We audited Chicanos Por La Causa, Inc.’s (grantee) Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2) grant to determine whether the grantee administered its NSP2 grant in accordance with HUD’s program requirements. We conducted the audit as part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) fiscal year 2011 annual audit plan and to support HUD OIG’s fiscal year 2011 strategic goal to contribute to…

We audited the City of Reading, PA’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 as part of our annual audit plan to review activities funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) because the City received $5 million in Program funds under the Recovery Act. Our audit objective was to determine whether the City (1) met Program expenditure deadlines, (2) made Program expenditures that were eligible and adequately supported…

We audited the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s (Authority) use of its Public Housing Capital Fund formula grant that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). We selected the Authority for audit based on a citizen’s complaint alleging misuse of these funds and because it received $126.5 million in Recovery Act capital funds. We focused strictly on $31.5 million of the funds that the Authority…

We audited the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s (Authority) payments for outside legal services based on a citizen’s complaint alleging misuse of these funds, our observations and concerns regarding the Authority’s use of outside attorneys on prior audits, and concerns over the large sums the Authority paid for outside legal services reported in the media. The Authority paid $30.5 million for outside legal services provided by 15 law firms…

We reviewed Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured loan settlement documents from two branches of DHI Mortgage Company, LTD (DHI Mortgage), in Arizona. During a previous audit of loan origination by the same branches (audit report number 2009-LA-1018), there was information indicating that the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (Act) might have been violated; however, we were unable to report on the issue at the time. Our review…

We audited the City of Mesa’s (grantee) Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP1) grant to determine whether the grantee administered the grant in accordance with HUD’s program requirements. The audit was started primarily because the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) audit plan includes objectives to review Housing and Economic Recovery Act grantees and because staff from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of…

We audited the City of Pittsburgh’s (City) administration of its Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds that it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). We selected the City for audit because it received a $4.5 million grant, which was the third largest CDBG Recovery Act grant awarded in the State of Pennsylvania and it had disbursed more than half of the grant funds as of July 12, 2010. Our…

We audited the City of Scranton, PA’s (City) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. We selected the City for audit because of the size of its program, its high U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) risk analysis score, and a citizen’s complaint alleging misuse of HUD funds. The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the City (1) maintained records and documentation to identify the source and application…

We audited the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (Agency) because it received $95.1 million in Tax Credit Assistance Program (Program) funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act). The Agency received the largest amount of Program funds awarded in Region III. Our objective was to determine whether the Agency administered its Program in accordance with Recovery Act and applicable U.S. Department of Housing and…

We completed a review of the Retreat at Santa Rita Springs (community), a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-insured multifamily project under Section 231 of the National Housing Act. Our audit was in response to a request for audit from Representative Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th District of Arizona. The owner defaulted on the $29.9 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-insured mortgage in November 2009, the month…