Office of Inspector General at HUD

5-17-2016: Is President Obama really paying any attention to his cabinet performance, or just wanting to bitch about politics? For the third consecutive fiscal year, we determined that HUD did not comply with IPERA. Specific areas of noncompliance for fiscal year 2015 were related to HUD’s failure to (1) conduct an annual risk assessment in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidance and (2) meet its annual improper payment reduction target. Additionally, we noted some issues concerning (1) the completeness and accuracy of HUD’s improper payment data reporting, including payment recapture audit plans, and (2) the reasonableness of HUD’s improper payment estimate for its Rental Housing Assistance Programs.

3-31-1015: The HUD-OIG is required to annually audit the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the stand alone financial statements of Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and the Government National Mortgage Administration (Ginnie Mae). However, they still can’t get a straight answer from FHA or HUD…

2-19-2015: Hidalgo HUD Officials Charged with Conspiracy to Commit Bribery and Embezzlement.

Facilities Director Sentenced for Bribery in Connection with Building Contracts

HUD Subsidized More Than 106,000 Noncompliant Households

1-9-2015: Office of Inspector General semi-annual report on HUD operations – September 2014 – recommended almost $2 Billion could have been put to a better use in Fiscal Year 2014 and less than $100 Million in restitution and court judgments.

HUD OIG audited HUD’s oversight of its Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) program to determine whether HUD had effective controls to ensure that HECM loan borrowers complied with residency requirements when concurrently participating in the Housing Choice Voucher program. As many as 136 of 159 borrowers reviewed were not living in the properties associated with their loans because they were receiving rental assistance under the Housing Choice Voucher program for a different address at the same time. As a result, 121 insured loans should be declared in default and due and payable to reduce the potential risk of loss to HUD’s insurance fund.

12-10-2014: The HUD OIG performed their annual audit of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). HUD’s interim assessment disclosed 11 findings. The most significant findings relate to (1) CPD’s formula grant accounting not in compliance with GAAP, (2) continued weaknesses in PIH’s cash management process, (3) lack of validation of grant accrual estimates, and (4) HUD’s continued financial management system weaknesses. The findings have root causes stemming from weaknesses in HUD’s internal controls which have been identified and reported in previous years. These weaknesses are due to HUD’s inability to establish a compliant control environment, implement adequate systems, recognize required changes, and identify appropriate accounting principles and policies.

11-21-2014: Audit of the Federal Housing Administration’s Financial Statements for Fiscal Years 2014 and 2013 found some deficiencies. The audit disclosed one material weakness, two significant deficiencies in internal controls, and one instance of noncompliance with applicable laws and regulations.

8-20-2014: The Goshen Housing Authority, Goshen, IN, failed to follow HUD’s Section 8 program and failed to ensure that 46 program units, including 19 that materially failed, complied with HUD’s housing quality standards.

8-11-2014: HUD did not always bill lenders for FHA single-family loans that had an indemnification agreement and a loss to HUD…There were a total of 486 loans with losses of $37.1 million from January 2004 to February 2014 that had enforceable indemnification agreements and losses to HUD but were not billed…but should have been. Bottom line: Taxpayers lost!

6-17-2014: HUD OIG Semi-Annual Report to Congress on the use of federal housing $, the cost of bad mortgages, and other findings.

Purpose: Its statutory mission is detecting and preventing fraud, waste, and abuse and promoting the effectiveness and efficiency of government operations.

Implement 4 initiatives over the next 5 years to help accomplish the strategic plan:

First, – the Civil Fraud Division will continue to target additional large Federal Housing Administration lenders and servicers alleged to have fraudulently contributed to the ongoing mortgage crises & will increase efforts to target potential grant and contract fraud within HUD’s programs and operations.

Second – improve inspections and evaluations using advanced program assessment techniques and employ multidisciplinary teams using a variety of methods – i.e., continued waste and abuse but now reports are easier to read?

Third – improve information technology infrastructure and develop a more robust data mining capability to better identify non-obvious relationships to more quickly detect trends, patterns and weaknesses to deter fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement within the Department and its programs and before they become systemic or national problems.

Lastly – become more proactive and renew our fraud prevention efforts – inform the Department, industry, and stakeholders of fraud schemes and areas of weaknesses we
have encountered.

Source: Reports from the Office of Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban Development

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