We completed a review of the New Rochelle Municipal Housing Authority’s administration of its public housing program.  We selected the Authority based on a management request from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) New York Office of Public Housing.  The Authority was designated as a troubled housing authority and had indicators of noncompliance with program requirements, such as using program funds to pay for ineligible expenses.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority administered its public housing program in accordance with HUD’s rules and regulations.

Our review determined that the Authority did not always administer its public housing program in accordance with HUD’s rules and regulations.  Specifically, Authority officials charged questionable expenditures to the program.  We attributed these deficiencies to the Authority officials’ failure to establish and implement adequate financial controls to ensure compliance with applicable regulations.  As a result, HUD had no assurance that $28,349 in expenditures charged by the Authority was eligible and adequately supported. 

We recommend that HUD require Authority officials to (1) reimburse the public housing program from non-Federal funds for $15,020 in ineligible expenditures for executive staff travel, staff vacation compensation, food and beverages, and musical entertainment; (2) provide supporting documentation to justify the $13,329 in unsupported expenditures charged to the public housing program; and (3) implement procedures and effective financial controls to ensure that all disbursements charged to the public housing program are eligible and adequately supported.