Finding Text
Assistance Listing Number, Federal Agency, and Program Name Housing Vouchers Cluster 14.871 and 14.879 Federal Award Identification Number and Year Not applicable Pass through Entity Not applicable Finding Type Material weakness Repeat Finding No Criteria Under 24 CFR 982.158(d), 982.404, and 982.405(b) the Commission must: a. Inspect the unit leased to a family at least annually to determine if the unit meets Housing Quality Standards (HQS) and the PHA must conduct quality control reinspections. The PHA must prepare a unit inspection report. b. For units under HAP Contract 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 within a specified PHA approved extension. If the owner does not correct the cited HQS deficiencies within 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. The owner is not responsible for a breach of HQS as a result of the family?s failure to pay for utilities for which the family is responsible under the lease or for tenant damage. For family caused defects, if the family does not correct the cited HQS deficiencies within the specified correction period, the PHA must take prompt and vigorous action to enforce the family obligations. Condition Inspections selected for testing did not include complete information to support completed inspections and enforcement of repairs. Questioned Costs Not applicable Identification of How Questioned Costs Were Computed Not applicable Context A total of 25 inspections were tested, and the results are as follows: Of the files tested, support that three inspections occurred were not provided. For an additional two inspections, additional support was not provided to complete testing of the enforcement of HQS deficiencies. Cause and Effect The Commission did not have the proper controls in place to ensure inspections are occurring timely. Due to the lack of adequate controls, the support for the inspections and corrections or repairs needed was not maintained. Housing assistance payments could be made to owners whose units do not meet the HQS standards. Recommendation The Commission should establish procedures to ensure inspections are performed annually and the corrections are corrected timely. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions The landlord liaison will review the third party scheduled inspection report and reconcile it with the Yardi inspection report weekly to promptly ensure inspection completeness. Yardi reports will be reviewed and monitored by the department manager/supervisor to ensure we are operating in accordance with industry standards. The Yardi reports will also be utilized in working with our inspections contractor for accuracy and reliability with annual reporting to ensure all inspections are conducted in the regulatory timeframes whether initials, biannual, or quality control inspections to ensure housing stock is HQS compliant.