We audited the Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority’s Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program housing quality standards based on a request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the activities included in our 2015 annual audit plan.  Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority conducted thorough housing quality standards inspections of its program units in accordance with HUD’s and its own requirements.  This is the second of two audits on the Authority’s program.

The Authority did not adequately enforce HUD’s housing quality standards and its own requirements.  Specifically, it failed to ensure that 44 program units, including 38 that materially failed, complied with HUD’s housing quality standards and its program administrative plan.  As a result, the Authority’s households were subjected to health- and safety-related violations, and the Authority did not properly use its program funds. 

We recommend that the Director of HUD’s Cleveland Office of Public and Indian Housing require the Authority to (1) certify that the applicable housing quality standards violations have been corrected for the 44 units cited, (2) reimburse its program more than $38,000 from non-Federal funds for the 38 units that materially failed to meet HUD’s and its own requirements, and (3) implement adequate procedures and controls to ensure that all units meet HUD’s housing quality standards and its own requirements to prevent more than $1.9 million in program funds from being spent on units that do not comply with HUD’s requirements over the next year.