Finding 577294 (2022-004)

2022-004 Housing Quality Standards Significant Deficiency Criteria: All housing that involves acquisition, rehabilitation, conversion, lease, repair of facilities, new construction, project or tenant-based rental assistance, and operating costs must meet various housing quality standards listed in 24 CFR sections 574.310(b)(1)-(2). Condition: During testing of tenant files, there were 5 instances where inspection documentation or HQS documentation was missing. Cause: During this period of switching to remote work due to COVID and incorporating electronic files, documentation was frequently misfiled. Effect: The Program was not in compliance with federal regulations regarding documentation of housing quality standards. Questioned Cost: None Context: A sample of 22 tenant files were selected from a population of 113 tenants. The test found 5 exceptions, as noted above. Recommendation: We recommend that the organization strengthen its internal control procedures related to housing quality standards and inspections and documentation. This should include management training in the applicable compliance requirements and more effective communication of the requirements to staff, as well as improved monitoring of tenant files. Management’s View: We agree with this finding and have outlined our response in our Corrective Action Plan. 2022-004 Housing Quality Standards Significant Deficiency Criteria: All housing that involves acquisition, rehabilitation, conversion, lease, repair of facilities, new construction, project or tenant-based rental assistance, and operating costs must meet various housing quality standards listed in 24 CFR sections 574.310(b)(1)-(2). Condition: During testing of tenant files, there were 5 instances where inspection documentation or HQS documentation was missing. Cause: During this period of switching to remote work due to COVID and incorporating electronic files, documentation was frequently misfiled. Effect: The Program was not in compliance with federal regulations regarding documentation of housing quality standards. Questioned Cost: None Context: A sample of 22 tenant files were selected from a population of 113 tenants. The test found 5 exceptions, as noted above. Recommendation: We recommend that the organization strengthen its internal control procedures related to housing quality standards and inspections and documentation. This should include management training in the applicable compliance requirements and more effective communication of the requirements to staff, as well as improved monitoring of tenant files. Management’s View: We agree with this finding and have outlined our response in our Corrective Action Plan.