We audited the Housing Choice Voucher program and Federal public housing programs at the Weymouth Housing Authority as part of our annual audit plan. The overall objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority had acceptable management practices to efficiently and effectively administer its Housing Choice Voucher program while providing decent, safe, and sanitary housing in compliance with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requirements and its annual contributions contracts. The specific subobjectives of the audit were to determine whether (1) contract rents were reasonable and based on rent reasonableness factors, (2) housing units complied with housing quality standards, (3) costs charged to the Housing Choice Voucher and other Federal public housing programs were properly allocated and supported, (4) the Authority complied with HUD procurement regulations and its own procurement policy, and (5) Housing Choice Voucher program funds were used in compliance with the Authority’s annual contributions contract.

The Authority did not always administer its Housing Choice Voucher and public housing programs in accordance with HUD regulations and its annual contributions contracts. It (1) approved rents without adequately performing rent reasonableness determinations, (2) did not adequately perform and monitor the Housing Choice Voucher program’s housing quality standards process, (3) did not have an adequate cost allocation plan, (4) did not adequately perform procurements in compliance with HUD regulations and its own procurement policy, and (5) did not have a policy to ensure that Housing Choice Voucher program receipts were used only for the program. In addition, the Authority submitted its 2010 Section 8 Management Assessment Program in late February 2011 and self-certified to items that it did not perform.

We recommend that the Director of the Boston Office of Public Housing require the Authority to (1) provide supporting documentation to show that the rents were reasonable for units for which the Authority paid more than $1.7 million in housing assistance in 2009 and more than $2 million in housing assistance in 2010 (totaling more than $3.5 million) or repay from non-Federal funds any unsupported costs to its housing assistance payment reserve account; (2) repay from non-Federal funds the Housing Choice Voucher program housing assistance payment costs of $11,625 that should have been abated for units that were materially noncompliant with housing quality standards; (3) reimburse the Federal public housing and Housing Choice Voucher programs $159,388 from non-Federal sources and any additional amounts determined to be improperly allocated based on an equitable cost allocation plan and supporting documentation; (4) support the use of $69,860 paid for services that were not properly procured by soliciting price or rate quotations from three sources to procure a fee accountant, Housing Choice Voucher program inspector, attorney, and independent public accountant or reimburse the Federal programs for any unreasonable amounts paid; and (5) develop and implement a plan to ensure that the Authority records and reconciles interprogram fund transactions monthly to correct any imbalances.