Finding Text
FINDING 2023-003: Unauthorized receipt of COVID-19 Supplemental Payments (CSP) Criteria - Section 8 owners who took distributions of surplus cash following the announcement of CSPs on July 23, 2020, are not eligible to receive a CSP for expenses incurred in the first, second, or third operating periods (March 27, 2020 to March 31, 2021). The Corporation must be able to substantiate the costs submitted for reimbursement and the costs must fall under the eligible cost category for which they were submitted. Condition - The Corporation received CSP’s for all five program operating periods. The Corporation received reimbursement for expenditures in eligible expense categories different from the expense categories applied for. Questioned costs and how they were computed - $89,393. The questioned costs are the CSP funds received that the projects were either not eligible for or that were received for expenditures that were different than those used in the CSP applications. Context - The Corporation is responsible for compliance with Section 8 program requirements, including any special provisions or programs that me be included with the Section 8 cluster. Cause - The management company applied for reimbursement of expenses on behalf of the Corporation for all five program operating periods, when the Corporation was only eligible for program periods 4 and 5. The Corporation received reimbursement for eligible expense categories different from the expense categories applied for. Effect - The Corporation received federal funds it was not eligible to receive. Recommendation - We recommend that the Corporation contact HUD or the Section 8 HAP contract administrators to inform them of the error and to verify how they would like to address the situation. Auditee's comments and response - The applications for reimbursement for program periods 1 through 3 were made in error. The Corporation has contacted HUD and is awaiting a response. Responsible party for corrective action: Megan Netland – Vice President of Asset Management