In accordance with our regional plan to review public housing programs and because of weaknesses identified by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), we reviewed the Housing Authority of the City of Idabel, OK.  Our objectives were to determine whether the Authority’s investment in and operation of non-public-housing units complied with HUD requirements and whether those activities adversely impacted the management of its public housing programs.

In violation of its contract with HUD, in April 2003, the Authority, through its instrumentality, Community Frameworks, purchased Sunnybrook, a non-public-housing property, without HUD approval.  The Authority inappropriately used more than $180,000 in HUD funds to subsidize Sunnybrook’s costs.  The purchase, management, and unsupported use of HUD funds negatively impacted the quality of the Authority’s public housing units.  Further, the units at Sunnybrook were not well maintained.  These conditions occurred because the Authority chose to ignore the requirements of the contract and did not have the controls that it needed to operate its public housing programs in accordance with HUD requirements.

We recommended that HUD perform inspections of all of the Authority’s public housing units and ensure that the Authority makes all needed repairs, particularly those that are emergency health and safety violations.  Also, HUD should provide technical assistance to the Authority on compliance with its contract, including proper allocation of costs and maintenance of its public housing units.  Further, we recommended that HUD require the Authority to dissolve itself from its non-public-housing units and support or repay its public housing program $180,379 spent on unsupported activities.