Finding Text
Finding 2023-004 – Housing Choice Voucher Tenant Files – Rent Calculations
Noncompliance & Significant Deficiency – ALN 14.871
Criteria: Part 24 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Section 982, and the Housing Choice Voucher Guidebook give the requirements and guidance for maintaining the tenant files. HUD requires that certain information be obtained from each resident to properly support the rental calculations and prescribes acceptable methods of tenant income calculation. Additionally, the Agency’s Administrative Plan provides guidance on the requirements of the tenant files and how they must be maintained.
Condition and Cause: We reviewed one hundred (100) Housing Choice Voucher tenant files and noted errors as described below:
One instance of a 50058 form not in agreement with the HAP register
One instance of an annual reexamination conducted late
Two instances of unverified income
Five instances of a miscalculation of a residents’ income
One instance of deductions in a tenant file being incorrect
In total the above deficiencies aggregate to a 10% error rate with 8% of the errors being attributed to resident income calculations.
Effect: Improper calculation of tenant rental charges can result in misstatement of the financial statements, improper calculation of HAP subsidy, and noncompliance with Federal provisions governing the Housing Choice Voucher program.
Recommendation: We recommend that the Authority conduct a file audit of existing tenants to determine whether there are additional deficiencies. We also recommend that the Authority implement a quality control review to adequately monitor compliance with regulations pertaining to the maintenance of tenant files, which was underway with Nan McKay Associates, while the audit was taking place.