We audited the Somerville Housing Authority’s public housing and Public Housing Capital Fund programs as part of our fiscal year 2016 regional audit plan.  We initiated our review because the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Boston Office of Public and Indian Housing had not monitored the programs in the past 5 years and we had not audited the Authority in the past 10 years.  Our audit objectives were to…

We audited the Puerto Rico Department of Housing’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program’s housing quality standards as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2014 audit plan.  We selected the Department because it had a large program receiving more than $54 million in 2014.  Our main audit objective was to determine whether the Department’s inspection process adequately ensured that its units complied with the U.S. Department…

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…

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG) assisted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California in the civil investigation of Iron Mountain, Incorporated, and Iron Mountain Information Management, LLC (Iron Mountain).  Iron Mountain is headquartered in Boston, MA.  The investigation began due to a qui tam[1] filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern…

We conducted a limited review of the Cambridge Housing Authority’s Moving to Work Housing Choice Voucher Program’s use of exception payment standards.   This program allows public housing authorities to use exception payment standards to set rental payments in excess of the payment standard established for an authority’s rents . The review was initiated as a result of a concern raised by a member of Congress about whether public…

We audited the Office of the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs’ Section 108 Loan Guarantee program as part of our strategic plan and based on the deficiencies noted during our recent review of Municipal Affairs’ Section 108 Loan Guarantee program, concerning the slow progress of the Vieques Sports Complex project (Audit memorandum number 2014-AT-1801, issued March 20, 2014).  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether Section…

We reviewed HUD’s San Juan, PR, Office of Community Planning and Development’s monitoring of the Vieques, PR, Sports City Complex project.  The review was performed based on indicators identified in the audit of the Vieques Sports City Complex, Office of the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs’ (OCMA) Puerto Rico State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Section 108 Loan Guarantee program.  More than 11 years had elapsed since HUD…

We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Meridian’s Queen City apartments at the request of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Single Family Office of Asset Management.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority acquired, financed, and managed the purchase of the apartments in accordance with applicable regulations and determine the cause of the Queen City apartments’ Federal Housing…

We audited the Municipality of Carolina’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program as part of our strategic plan, based on the amount of HOME funds approved.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether HOME-funded activities met program objectives, home buyers complied with HOME’s primary residency requirement for the duration of the period of affordability, and the Municipality maintained a financial management system in compliance…

We audited the Chelsea, MA, Housing Authority based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Boston Office of Public and Indian Housing, which was concerned about financial controls at the Authority.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether Authority officials properly implemented financial controls over the allocation of costs, and reasonableness of salaries. Authority officials did not design…

We audited the Office of the Commissioner for Municipal Affairs’ (OCMA) Puerto Rico State Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Section 108 Loan Guarantee program as part of our strategic plan, based on concerns regarding the slow progress of the Vieques sports complex project.  The objective of this audit was to determine whether OCMA used Section 108 loan proceeds on a project that met a national objective of the CDBG program and…

We audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Boston Office of Public Housing as part of a nationwide audit of HUD’s oversight of environmental reviews.  We selected the Boston Office based on our risk assessment.  Our audit objectives were to determine whether the Boston Office’s oversight of public housing environmental reviews within its jurisdiction ensured that (1) the responsible entities performed the…

We audited the Municipality of Arecibo’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program as part of our strategic plan based on the results of a recent audit of the Municipality’s Community Development Block Grant program.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether dwelling units acquired under the home-ownership program complied with the HUD’s housing standards and affordability requirements, whether the Municipality disbursed HOME funds…

We completed a review of the Lowell Housing Authority’s Public Housing and Recovery Act Capital Fund programs, including its force account activities.  We selected this auditee based on a news articles identifying concerns with the Authority’s use of force account labor.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Authority (1) administered its force account modernization program in accordance with U.S. Department of…

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…

We audited the Puerto Rico Housing Finance Authority’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program as part of our strategic plan based on the large amount of HOME funds approved.  The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Authority reported accurate and supported information in the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Integrated Disbursement and Information System and disbursed HOME funds within HUD-established…

As part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan and based on the large amount of funds approved, we audited the Municipality of Arecibo’s Community Development Block Grant program.  Our main objective was to determine whether the Municipality complied with HUD regulations, procedures, and instructions related to the administration of its Block Grant program. The…

We audited the Municipality of Ponce’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program. We selected the Municipality for review as part of our strategic plan based on the large amount of HOME funds approved. Our objectives were to determine whether the Municipality maintained its financial management system in compliance with HUD requirements and met HOME program objectives. The Municipality’s financial management system (1) did not properly identify the…

We completed an audit of the Lawrence Housing Authority, Lawrence, MA, (Authority) pertaining to its administration of U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) programs. The objective of this audit was to determine whether the Authority had acceptable management and financial practices to efficiently and effectively administer the use of Section 8 and public housing program funds in compliance with its annual contributions…

We audited the Municipality of Bayamón’s HOME Investment Partnerships Program. We selected the Municipality for review as part of our strategic plan based on the large amount of HOME funds approved. The objectives of the audit were to determine whether the Municipality maintained its financial management system in compliance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements and met HOME program objectives. The…