Finding Text
United States Department of the Treasury Reference Number: 2022-007 Program: 21.023 COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Federal Award Number: ERA-2101123208 Type of Finding: Noncompliance; Significant Deficiency in Internal Controls over Compliance Compliance Requirement: Eligibility Condition: Audit testing of a statistical sample of 40 rental assistance applications processed during the year ended June 30, 2022, in the prior processing system (that was replaced in August 2021) revealed one instance where 16 months of rental assistance was paid for a household using ERA1 funds, when a maximum of 15 months of rental assistance is allowed to be paid with ERA1 funds. one application only included one sign off, rather than the required two, from an ERA Program rental assistance processor. Criteria: The following summarizes the applicable portions of the ERA program requirements as detailed in United States Department of the Treasury Program FAQs updated July 6, 2022: ? ERA1 allows an eligible household to receive up to 12 months of assistance (plus an additional three (3) months if necessary to ensure housing stability for the household, subject to the availability of funds). Grantees must establish policies and procedures to govern the implementation of their ERA programs consistent with the statutes and the ERA program requirements. Questioned Costs: Audit testing of 40 cases totaling $221,269 of assistance identified $900 of overpayments. Context: . During the period of July 1, 2021 through August 2021, DSHA approved and disbursed assistance for 1,194 cases totaling $7,438,552. Effect: Federal program expenditures of rental assistance were overpaid. Cause: Internal controls over compliance were not appropriately designed, implemented, or operated to appropriately address the risk of noncompliance with the federal program requirements. Recommendation: We recommend DSHA enhance its policies and procedures for processing rental assistance applications to ensure compliance with the federal program?s requirements.