We conducted the audit of the Retreat at Santa Rita Springs (community), a Federal Housing Administration-insured multifamily property under the Section 231 of the National Housing Act, in response to a congressional request from Representative Gabrielle Giffords of the 8th Congressional District of Arizona. In November 2009, the owners of the community defaulted on its $29.9 million U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-…

We evaluated the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) award process for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2). We initiated the review as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan. Our primary objective was to determine whether HUD’s methodology and controls for the evaluation and selection of applications for the $1.93 billion in NSP2 funds were in accordance with applicable requirements. We…

HUD OIG performed an audit of Lendamerica Home Loans, Inc., a Federal Housing Administration approved direct endorsement lender located in Coral Gables, Florida. The review was performed based on the lender’s high default rates. The purpose of the audit was to determine whether the lender followed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements for (1) originating and underwriting loans and (2) implementing its…

HUD OIG performed an audit of Lendamerica Home Loans, Inc., a Federal Housing Administration approved direct endorsement lender located in Coral Gables, Florida. The review was performed based on the lender’s high default rates. The purpose of the audit was to determine whether the lender followed the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) requirements for (1) originating and underwriting loans and (2) implementing its…

We audited Sasha Bruce Youthwork, Incorporated (Youthwork, Inc.) to determine whether it used its Youthbuild and Supportive Housing program grant funds in accordance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regulations and its grant agreements. We found that Youthwork, Inc., did not support the eligibility of more than $1.9 million in expenditures. Youthwork, Inc., failed to maintain records identifying the source and…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD's Office of Public Housing and Voucher Programs to determine whether HUD reasonably ensured that public housing agencies properly managed their housing choice voucher net restricted assets and to determine whether HUD appropriately awarded 2009 set-aside fund awards for unforeseen circumstances and higher than average leasing. We found that…

We audited the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) compliance with obligation, recapture, and reallocation requirements for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) Public Housing Capital Fund program. Specifically, its plans to recapture unobligated Recovery Act Public Housing Capital Fund formula grants by the March 17, 2010 obligation deadline and to reallocate the recaptured funds. HUD’s plan…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Office of Affordable Housing Programs’ (Office) oversight of resale and recapture provisions for HOME Investment Partnerships Program (Program)-assisted homeownership projects (project). The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2009 annual audit plan to contribute to improving HUD’s execution of and accountability for its fiscal…

HUD OIG audited the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (Program) administered by Broward County, Florida (County). The objective was to determine whether the County had the necessary controls to administer its Program in accordance with the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. Specifically, we evaluated whether the County had adequate (1) management controls to ensure that activities met Program objectives and (2) financial controls to…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited HUD’s Office of Block Grant Assistance’s (Office) controls over special conditions in Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant agreements under Title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Act) as amended. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2010 annual audit plan. Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s Office…

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 evaluated the efforts of HUD’s Financial Operations Center (FOC) in managing Federal Housing Administration (FHA) debts due HUD as a result of single-family indemnification agreements and civil money penalties (CMP).  We wanted to know whether FOC debt servicing and collections complied with applicable Federal laws and regulations.  We also wanted to determine the status and assess the collectability of the September 30, 2008,…

We evaluated HUD’s September 2009 response to questions posed by the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board’s survey of staff resources dedicated to American Reinvestment and Recovery Act (ARRA).  We wanted to know if the reported number of HUD contract and grant personnel responsible for ARRA funding and oversight could be validated and relied on for public disclosure. The full-time equivalent (FTE) staffing levels submitted in…

In accordance with our annual audit plan and due to concerns regarding the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) capacity to handle the increasing demand for loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), we initiated an audit of HUD’s Philadelphia, PA, Homeownership Center (Center). This is the first of two audit reports that we plan to issue on the Center’s capacity to process current demand for FHA loans. The…

We completed a review of the District of Columbia’s (grantee) administration of HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME) funds that it provided to CEMI-Parkside Associates, LLP (Parkside Associates), a limited partnership managed by developer H.R. Crawford. The funds were provided for the rehabilitation/construction of a high rise property known as Parkside Terrace Apartments (Parkside Terrace). We initiated the review in response to a…

We initiated the audit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) efforts to recover the City of New London, CT, Housing Authority (Authority) due to its longstanding troubled status. The Authority has had significant management deficiencies for more than 10 years, and HUD identified the Authority as “overall troubled” in May of 2004. Our objective for this audit was to evaluate HUD’s effectiveness in identifying and helping…

We conducted this audit because the County was one of several participating jurisdictions visited during a 2009 internal audit of HOME commitments (audit report number 2009-AT-0001, issued September 28, 2009). During the internal audit, we determined that the County entered incorrect commitments into HUD’s information system. Our objective for this audit was to determine the extent of the incorrect HOME commitments that the County entered into…

We reviewed the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD’s) guidance on using American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) capital funding for physical needs assessments. Our objective was to determine whether HUD’s guidance to grantees on using Recovery Act capital funds for physical needs assessments was sufficient to ensure grantees had the information needed to avoid missing the grant obligation deadline of…

We performed this review at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Multifamily Program Center, Richmond field office, due to concerns regarding the appropriateness of HUD's current regulatory agreement with the Yorkville Cooperative (Cooperative). Our objective was to determine if HUD entered into the appropriate regulatory agreement with the Cooperative for its Section 221(d)(3) program. HUD and…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control’s (OHHLHC) selection procedures used to award American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act) grants. Our objective was to determine whether OHHLHC awarded (1) Recovery Act funds in accordance with the selection criteria specified in the fiscal year 2008 notices of funding availability (notices) and the Recovery Act and…