Finding 1076703 (2023-001)

FINDING #2023-001 Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Program: Housing Voucher Cluster ALN: 14.871, 14.879 Award Period: 1/1/23 - 12/31/23 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency Criteria or Specific Requirement: 24 CFR Sections 982.305 and 982.405 state that the PHA must inspect units under the HCVP at least annually to ensure the units meet Housing Quality Standards (HQS). 24 CFR sections 982.158(d) and 982.404 state that units under HAP contracts that fail to meet HQS, the PHA must require the owner to correct any life threatening HQS deficiencies within 24 hours after the inspections and all other HQS deficiencies within 30 calendar days, or withing a specified PHA-approved correction period. If the owner does not correct the cited HQS deficiencies withing the specified correction period, the PHA must stop (abate) HAPs beginning no later than the first of the month following the specified correction period or must terminate the HAP contract. Condition: During our testing, we noted that the Authority did not follow their internal controls designed to ensure compliance with tenant eligibility requirements. We noted one instance where a unit was not inspected during the year. In this instance, the Authority did not abate payments for this unit. We also noted one instance of a unit failing inspection, and not passing within the 30-day window. However, the Authority never put the unit into abatement. Known Questioned Costs: N/A Context: Testing of 40 HCVP files selected for eligibility testing noted exceptions in two files which included the following: – Two tenants who did not have an annual inspection done or properly passed during the year. Cause: The inspection company used by the Authority did not perform inspections when scheduled and failed to let the Authority know of missed inspections. Effect: The Authority is not in compliance with federal regulations regarding eligibility. The amount of housing assistance payments or tenant rent could be incorrect based on missing or inaccurate information. Repeat Finding: No Recommendation: We recommend that the Authority review their recertification process and their process for reporting the reinspections, and review the abatement process to ensure units are properly put into abatement when inspections are failed or incomplete. Views of Responsible Officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.