Audit 29011

Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Program Name: Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing Number: 14.871 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance, Other Matter Criteria or specific requirement: Section N.2 of Part 4 of the 2022 OMB Compliance Supplement indicates that the Commission must determine that the rent to owner is reasonable at the time of initial leasing, and must maintain records to document the basis for the determination that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of the HAP contract). Condition: During our testing, we noted that the Commission did not maintain documentation of its reasonable rent determination for one of the HAP payments that we selected. Questioned costs: None. Context: During our testing, it was noted that for one of the 40 case files examined, the County was unable to locate the completed reasonable rent determination associated with the case file. Cause: During the transition from paper case files to electronic, the County did not retain the reasonable rent determination to be scanned into the system. Effect: Without documentation to prove that reasonable rent determinations were performed for all individuals receiving benefit payments, the Commission is not in compliance with the provisions of the OMB Compliance Supplement for the Housing Choice Voucher program. Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: We recommend the Commission design controls to ensure that all required documentation for reasonable rent determinations is retained and accessible for each case file. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Program Name: Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Assistance Listing Number: 14.871 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control over Compliance, Other Matter Criteria or specific requirement: Section N.2 of Part 4 of the 2022 OMB Compliance Supplement indicates that the Commission must determine that the rent to owner is reasonable at the time of initial leasing, and must maintain records to document the basis for the determination that rent to owner is a reasonable rent (initially and during the term of the HAP contract). Condition: During our testing, we noted that the Commission did not maintain documentation of its reasonable rent determination for one of the HAP payments that we selected. Questioned costs: None. Context: During our testing, it was noted that for one of the 40 case files examined, the County was unable to locate the completed reasonable rent determination associated with the case file. Cause: During the transition from paper case files to electronic, the County did not retain the reasonable rent determination to be scanned into the system. Effect: Without documentation to prove that reasonable rent determinations were performed for all individuals receiving benefit payments, the Commission is not in compliance with the provisions of the OMB Compliance Supplement for the Housing Choice Voucher program. Repeat Finding: This is not a repeat finding. Recommendation: We recommend the Commission design controls to ensure that all required documentation for reasonable rent determinations is retained and accessible for each case file. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.