Finding Text
Criteria: To be eligible, a household must be obligated to pay rent on a residential dwelling and the grantee must determine that: 1) one or more individuals within the household has qualified for unemployment benefits or experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced other financial hardship due, directly or indirectly, to the COVID-19 outbreak; 2) one or more individuals within the household can demonstrate a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability; and 3) the household has a household income at or below 80% of area median income. Grantees must obtain, if available, a current lease, signed by the applicant and the landlord or sublessor that identifies the unit where the applicant resides and establishes the rental payment amount. If a household does not have a signed lease, documentation of residence may include evidence of paying utilities for the residential unit, an attestation by a landlord who can be identified as the verified owner or management agent of the unit, or other reasonable documentation as determined by the grantee. In the absence of a signed lease, evidence of the amount of a rental payment may include bank statements, check stubs, or other documentation that reasonably establishes a pattern of paying rent, a written attestation by a landlord who can be verified as the legitimate owner or management agent of the unit, or other reasonable documentation as defined by the grantee in its policies and procedures. Condition: Disbursement of benefits under the program may have been made to individuals that were not eligible for benefits. Cause: The Organization implemented a process in which they performed a retrospective review of payments provided to select individuals. The Organization compared the names of landlord that were paid to public records to determine if the address agreed to the information submitted for eligibility determination. Upon review, the Organization determined payments may have been made to ineligible participants and submitted a report of their findings to the Sonoma County Development Community Commission. Effect: Ineligible participants may have received ineligible rental assistance. Questioned Cost: The Organization identified $111,275 in questionable rental assistance payments. Recommendation: We recommend the Organization compare the information submitted by applicants for eligibility to public records to determine validity prior to processing payments.