FAC Explorer

Finding 497904 (2023-001)

Significant Deficiency
Requirement
E
Questioned Costs
-
Year
2023
Accepted
2024-09-23
Audit: 320485
Organization: Howard County Housing Commission (MD)
Auditor: Cliftonlarsenallen LLP

AI Summary

  • Core Issue: The Commission failed to follow its own procedures for verifying family income, leading to inaccurate rent calculations.
  • Impacted Requirements: Compliance with HUD's requirement for third-party verification of income and related factors is not being met.
  • Recommended Follow-Up: The Commission should improve its process for collecting third-party income verification to ensure accurate calculations for rent and Housing Assistance Payments (HAP).

Finding Text

2023-001 - Eligibilty Federal Agency: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Federal Program: Housing Voucher Cluster FALN: 14.871/14.879 Federal Awared Identification Number and Year: MD023, 2023 Award Period: 1/1/2023 - 12/31/23 Type of Finding: Significant Deficiency in Internal Control Over Compliance, Other Matters Criteria or specific requirement: For both family income examinations and reexaminations, the PHA must obtain and document in the family file third party verification of (1) reported family annual income; (2) the value of assets; (3) expenses related to deductions from annual income; and (4) other factors that affect the determination of adjusted income or income-based rent (24 CFR section 982.516) Condition: The Commission did not follow it policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with eligibility requirements. Questioned costs: Unknown Context: Testing of 40 HCVP files indicated that 1 file had incorrect income used to calculate tenant rent and HAP. Cause: The Commission must verify income annually through third party verification and perform a calculation. The Commission did not complete this correctly. Effect: The Commission is not in compliance with HUD requirements. This could have an impact on HAP calculations. Recommendation: We recommend that the Commission review its process for collecting third party income support to ensure the accurate data is used as part of the rent and HAP calculation. Views of responsible officials: There is no disagreement with the audit finding.

Corrective Action Plan

Housing Voucher Cluster – FALN No. 14.871 & 14.879 – Eligibility Recommendation: We recommend that the Commission review its process for collecting third party income support to ensure the accurate data is used as part of the tenant rent and HAP calculations. Explanation of disagreement with audit finding: There is no disagreement with the audit finding. Action taken in response to finding: Corrected data is essential in determining the correct rent responsibility and HAP. To ensure that the data and rent calculations are correct, HCHC has taken the following steps: • Staff members have taken additional Housing Specialist training offered by Nan McKay. • HCHC has created and hired a quality control specialist who selects housing specialist 50058 actions to ensure that HCHC has data integrity, and all information is true and accurate. • The supervisor also selects housing specialist 50058 actions for review, ensuring that all required documentation is intact and that the proper rent responsibility and HAP calculations are correct. Name(s) of the contact person(s) responsible for corrective action: Crystal Gorham, Director of Rental Assistance Completion date for corrective action plan: 6/30/2024

Categories

HUD Housing Programs Eligibility Significant Deficiency Internal Control / Segregation of Duties

Other Findings in this Audit

  • 497905 2023-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 497906 2023-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 497907 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 497908 2023-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 497909 2023-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1074346 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1074347 2023-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1074348 2023-003
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1074349 2023-001
    Significant Deficiency
  • 1074350 2023-002
    Material Weakness Repeat
  • 1074351 2023-003
    Material Weakness Repeat

Programs in Audit

ALN Program Name Expenditures
14.871 Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers $26.23M
14.879 Mainstream Vouchers $1.40M
14.218 Community Development Block Grants/entitlement Grants $361,341
14.241 Housing Opportunities for Persons with Aids $229,967
21.023 Emergency Rental Assistance Program $96,322
14.896 Family Self-Sufficiency Program $6,011