We audited the Broward County Housing Authority’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program as part of the activities in our fiscal year 2016 annual audit plan.  Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its program in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and its own requirements.

The Authority did not always comply with HUD’s requirements and its own administrative policies and procedures when administering its program.  It did not always correctly calculate housing assistance payments or fully use the Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) system.  These conditions occurred because the Authority lacked a sufficient understanding of HUD’s and its own requirements for administering the program.  As a result, HUD lacked assurance that the Authority properly managed its program because it overpaid $19,771 in housing assistance, underpaid $1,010 in housing assistance, and received more than $8,400 in ineligible administrative fees.  Also, the Authority may have used a substantial amount of HUD funds to pay ineligible rental costs annually.

We recommend that the Director of the HUD Miami Office of Public Housing require the Authority to (1) reimburse its program more than $28,000 from non-Federal funds for the overpayment of housing assistance and ineligible administrative fees it received; (2) reimburse its households more than $1,000 for the underpayment of housing assistance; (3) review, verify, and resolve the substantial underreporting of more than $4.5 million in tenant annual income identified on the Authority’s EIV income discrepancy report; and (4) develop and implement adequate procedures and controls to address the issues cited in this audit report.