The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Inspector General audited the Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority's (Authority) Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program (program) under its Moving to Work Demonstration program. The audit was part of the activities in our fiscal year 2008 annual audit plan. We selected the Authority based upon our analysis of risk factors relating to the housing agencies in Region V's jurisdiction. Our objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its program in accordance with HUD's requirements. This is the first of two audit reports on the Authority's program.
The Authority's program administration regarding housing assistance payment calculations, documentation to support households' eligibility for housing assistance, monitoring of reported zero-income households, and housing quality standards enforcement was deficient. The Authority incorrectly calculated households' payments, resulting in more than $26,000 in overpayments and nearly $600 in underpayments for the period January through December 2007. Based on our statistical sample, we estimate that over the next year, the Authority will overpay more than $593,000 in housing assistance and utility allowances.
The Authority also did not ensure that its households' files contained the required documentation to support its housing assistance and utility allowances. Of the 73 files statistically selected for review, 17 did not contain documentation required by HUD and the Authority's program administrative plan to support more than $48,000 in housing assistance and utility allowance payments. Further, the Authority's inadequate income verifications and calculations for households reporting zero income resulted in more than $27,000 in improper housing assistance and utility allowance payments.
The Authority also failed to properly reinspect, abate, and terminate assistance for program units that failed housing quality standards inspections. As a result, it overpaid more than $12,000 in housing assistance and utility allowances and allowed tenants to reside in units that were not decent, safe, and sanitary.
We informed the Authority's executive director and the Director of HUD's Cleveland Office of Public Housing of minor deficiencies through a memorandum, dated June 19, 2008.
We recommend that the Director of HUD's Cleveland Office of Public Housing require the Authority to reimburse its program from nonfederal funds for the improper use of more than $90,000 in funds; provide documentation or reimburse its program more than $51,000 from nonfederal funds for the unsupported payments cited in this audit report; and implement adequate policies, procedures, and controls to address the findings cited in this audit report to prevent more than $606,000 in program funds from being spent on excessive housing assistance and utility allowance payments.