Finding 499775 (2023-002)

2023-002 - Eligibility: Public Housing Operating Fund (FALN #14.850) Material Weakness in Internal Control; Material Noncompliance Criteria HUD regulations of Annual Income (24 CFR § 5.609), Eligible Family Status (24 CFR § 5.403), Citizenship and Eligible Immigrant Status (24 CFR § 5.506) and Disclosure of Social Security Numbers (24 CFR § 5.216) require the collection and retention of certain tenant information to document the eligibility determination for each recipient. Condition The results of our testing indicated that certain items were unable to be located in the file, as follows: • In ten instances, the Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) was not performed annually. • In three instances, the annual recertification was not performed timely. • In two instances, EIV was performed, however was not performed timely. • In one instance, the social security card was missing from the tenant file. • In one instance, the approval for tenant's background check was missing from the tenant file. • In two instances, HUD Form 9887 was missing from the tenant's file. Questioned Costs Not determinable. Context We selected a sample of 40 files for review. Our sample was a statistically valid sample. Effect or Possible Effect The tenant file documentation was incomplete, and in certain instances, we were not able to determine if Greenwich Communities’ income verification was done accurately. Cause The cause is unknown. Identification as a Repeat Finding This finding is not a repeat finding. Recommendation We recommend that Greenwich Communities improve its internal processes to ensure tenant files contain the required documentation. Greenwich Communities’ Response Management concurs with the finding and has established plans to provide additional training and review of tenant files going forward by the Director of Housing Management to ensure required tenant certifications are performed timely and completely, and all required tenant certification documentation is included in tenant files.