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Report Fraud, Waste and Abuse
August 16, 2019
  • Public and Indian Housing
2019-FW-1006
2019-FW-1006.pdf

We reviewed the Bogalusa Housing Authority’s public housing programs based on the activities included in our annual audit plan and because the Authority has not been audited in more than 15 years.  The objective of our review was to determine whether the Authority administered its public housing programs in accordance with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) and its own requirements.

The Authority did not always administer its programs in accordance with HUD’s and its own requirements.  Specifically, for its Public Housing Operating Fund, the Authority did not always (1) follow requirements when procuring services; (2) maintain adequate supporting documentation for disbursements, and (3) track predevelopment costs.  This condition occurred because the Authority (1) did not understand or disregarded requirements, (2) lacked adequate document retention controls, and (3) lacked adequate policies and procedures and staff.  As a result, it could not support more than $200,000 paid in public housing funds.

For its Housing Choice Voucher Program, the Authority did not always (1) correctly calculate participant income, payment standards, or utility allowances; (2) maintain adequate housing assistance payments contracts; and (3) perform annual utility allowance and payment standard reviews.  This condition occurred because the Authority did not understand requirements and lacked processing controls when reviewing participant files.  As a result, it paid more than $29,000 in ineligible, unsupported, overpaid, or underpaid housing assistance and could not provide HUD reasonable assurance that its payment standard amounts, housing assistance payment subsidies, and rents were reasonable.

We recommend that HUD require the Authority (1) support or repay more than $200,000 to its Public Housing Operating Fund, (2) reimburse its Housing Choice Voucher Program more than $25,000 for ineligible and overpayments, (3) support participant eligibility or repay more than $2,000 in housing assistance, (4) reimburse households more than $700 in housing assistance underpayments, (5) implement procedures and controls to ensure that its program funds are administered in accordance with HUD’s and its own requirements, and (6) obtain staff training.

Recommendations
Recommendation Status Date Issued Summary
2019-FW-1006-001-A Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to support $238,197 or repay its Operating Fund from non-Federal funds for payments made to contractors without written contracts, sufficient independent cost estimates, or cost analyses.
2019-FW-1006-001-B Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to support $13,270 or repay its Operating Fund from non-Federal funds for the disbursements that did not have adequate supporting documentation.
2019-FW-1006-001-C Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to strengthen its controls over purchases to ensure compliance with HUD, Federal, and Authority procurement requirements. This includes but is not limited to controls to ensure that it (1) maintains records sufficient to detail the significant history of procurements, (2) complies with requirements for each type of procurement, (3) obtains independent cost estimates and cost analyses when required, and (4) prevents and detects conflict-of-interest situations.
2019-FW-1006-001-D Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to revise disbursement and credit card policies and procedures to (1) reflect current staffing and procedures and (2) implement additional controls and procedures to ensure that adequate segregation of duties occurs and adequate supporting documentation and approvals are maintained in the files to support disbursements.
2019-FW-1006-001-E Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to obtain training for staff involved in the procurement, funding, and disbursement processes to ensure compliance with HUD, Federal, and Authority requirements.
2019-FW-1006-001-F Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to implement additional controls and procedures to ensure that RAD disbursements are properly tracked and accounted for.
2019-FW-1006-001-G Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to evaluate the apparent conflict-of-interest situations in this report and pursue administrative sanctions or corrective action if warranted.
2019-FW-1006-002-A Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to reimburse its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program $24,728, from non-Federal funds, for the ineligible housing assistance payments.
2019-FW-1006-002-B Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to reimburse its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program $1,223, from non-Federal funds, for the overpayment of housing assistance due to inaccurate calculation.
2019-FW-1006-002-C Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to support that the participant is income eligible, considering all adult household members, or repay its Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program $2,535 from non-Federal funds.
2019-FW-1006-002-D Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to reimburse the appropriate households $709, from non-Federal funds, for the underpayment of housing assistance due to inaccurate calculations.
2019-FW-1006-002-E Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to correct the deficiencies in the participants’ files as appropriate.
2019-FW-1006-002-F Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to review and implement procedures and controls to ensure that all Federal requirements and the Authority’s Section 8 administrative plan are followed for (1) supporting household eligibility, (2) performing initial housing quality standards inspections, (3) rent reasonableness assessments, (4) execution of housing assistance payments contracts, and (5) income verifications and calculations.
2019-FW-1006-002-G Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to develop and implement procedures for (1) conducting annual reviews of the Authority’s payment standard amounts and utility allowances and maintaining adequate supporting documentation, and (2) completing and documenting the criminal history background checks for all adult household members.
2019-FW-1006-002-H Closed August 16, 2019 We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New Orleans Office of Public Housing require the Authority to obtain training for its staff to ensure compliance with HUD’s Housing Choice Voucher requirements.