We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary work with the Authority to assess the risk of potential improper payment for projects PW273 and PW100 and vouchers 576322, 583423, and 578761.
Publication Report
2023-FW-1002 | June 12, 2023
The Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority’s Administration of Its Non-Federal Match Program Had Weaknesses
We audited the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority’s Non-Federal Match Program for Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funds. This Match Program was developed to assist non-Federal entities in paying for their share… moreRelated Recommendations
Community Planning and Development
We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary instruct the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority to develop and implement procedures, including financial controls, to enhance its tracking of payments made with CDBG-DR funds and payments made with FEMA funds to ensure that payments are not made for the same invoices, match requirements are not exceeded before closeout, and a thorough review is conducted for award increases and cost reasonableness.
We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary instruct the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority to enforce its subrecipient agreement requirement to submit monthly status reports.
We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary instruct the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority to develop and implement procedures to ensure that all Match Program activities are monitored, and guidance is provided to its Match Program recipients.
We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary instruct the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority to develop and implement detailed policies and procedures to guide staff in reporting performance outcomes in the QPR and on its disaster recovery website.
We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary instruct the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority to revise its policies and procedures to include requirements to document its basis for activities’ meeting the national objective, including the rationale for the service area used and a list of acceptable documents to support that the area was primarily residential for the low- and moderate- income area benefit national objective.
We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary instruct the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority to conduct training for Authority staff on the newly developed or revised policies and procedures
We recommend that the Deputy Assistant Secretary require HUD program staff to provide technical assistance to the Authority to address deficiencies noted throughout the audit report.