Finding 977764 (2023-001)

Finding 2023-001 – Housing Choice Voucher Tenant Files – Eligibility – Internal Control over Tenant Files - Noncompliance & Significant Deficiency Housing Choice Voucher Program – ALN #14.871 Condition & Cause: During our review of eighty (80) Housing Choice Voucher tenant files, we noted that there were thirteen (13) files containing errors of noncompliance, or 16% of our sample. These errors consisted of missing or outdated verification of income or deductions, miscalculations of annual income, and one immaterial HAP register disagreement. We were able to extrapolate the misstatements of HAP expense and found that these errors were not pervasive to the financial statements. We noted that during the fiscal year the Authority experienced high staff turnover in the HCV department. At the time of the audit, one Housing Specialist position remained vacant. We attribute this as the cause for the noncompliance. Criteria: The Code of Federal regulations, the Housing Authority Administrative Plan and specific HUD guidelines in documenting and maintaining Housing Choice Voucher tenant files. Recommendation: We recommend that the Agency conduct a tenant file audit of existing tenants in the HCV program to determine the extent of any additional misstatements of HAP expense. We also recommend that the Agency increase their monitoring and review of the HCV program files to determine whether occupancy specialists need additional training or procedures added to ensure compliance. Our experience with agencies that increase monitoring and review of the files is that there are dramatically decreased error rates. Questioned Costs: None Repeat Finding: No Was sampling statistically valid? Yes Views of responsible officials: The PHA agrees with the results of the audit and recommendations.