We audited the City of Phoenix Housing Department’s (Housing Department) Housing Choice Voucher program. We conducted the audit as part of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) annual plan. The Housing Department was selected for review because it is the largest housing authority in the state of Arizona and had not previously been audited by OIG. The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Housing Department supported tenant eligibility and rent determinations in accordance with HUD requirements. We found the Housing Department did not ensure that tenant eligibility and associated housing assistance payment amounts were properly supported. As a result, it paid $371,469 in unsupported housing assistance and $12,616 in ineligible housing assistance.

We recommend that the Director of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Los Angeles Office of Public Housing require the Housing Department to (1) support or reimburse $371,469 in unsupported housing assistance payments; (2) reimburse $12,616 in ineligible housing assistance payments; (3) establish and implement an adequate training program, including standardized training materials, to ensure that its staff have the capability to perform tenant eligibility and housing assistance payment determinations in accordance with HUD requirements; and (4) take appropriate action to ensure that a sufficient number of staff are available to administer its Section 8 voucher program.