We completed and audit of the City of Buffalo, NY (City), pertaining to its administration of its Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Our audit objectives were to determine whether the City efficiently and effectively administered its HPRP in compliance with Recovery Act and other applicable requirements. Specifically, whether City officials had adequate policies and procedures to ensure that (1) program funds drawn from HUD’s Line of Credit Control System were supported with adequate documentation, (2) subrecipients were properly procured, and (3) subrecipients were monitored to ensure compliance with all applicable requirements.

City officials did not always administer the HPRP grant in accordance with applicable rules and regulations. Specifically, City officials (1) made cash advances to a subrecipient that were not supported by the immediate cash requirements, (2) failed to provide adequate support for the selection of subrecipients, and (3) did not adequately monitor subrecipients. As a result, City officials could not assure HUD that they had effective control and accountability over all funds, and that those funds were used solely for authorized purposes.

We recommend that the Director of HUD’s Buffalo Office of Community Planning and Development instruct City officials to (1) provide documentation to support advances of $138,268, (2) provide documentation to justify the costs of two subrecipients with contracts totaling $392,141, and (3) revise its monitoring policies and procedures to ensure that it monitors the day-to-day activities of all subrecipients during the term of the grant agreements.