Finding Text
The monetary impact needs further investigation to determine the amount for the period of non-compliance. Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) must establish, calculate, and maintain utility allowances in a manner that ensures they are accurate, reasonable, and reflective of actual conditions for low-income public housing residents. (24 CFR Part 965, Subpart E (specifically §§ 965.501–965.508)) During the audit, it was noted that in two (2) instances where a tenant utility allowance was not following the PHA's utility allowance schedules. This finding represents a potential weakness in internal controls within the Public Housing Program, as it was identified in two files tested out of a sample of forty (40) out of a population of 2,613. This represents a 5% error rate. Internal controls were not in place to ensure that the utility calculations were being properly used for each tenant. Tenant may be receiving the incorrect utility allowance "Management should implement internal control procedures to ensure that utility allowances are being correctly used for each tenant according to the PHA's utility allowance schedule. " Management agrees with the finding, see Management's Corrective Action Plan.