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Report Fraud, Waste and Abuse
May 17, 2011
  • Community Planning and Development
2011-LA-1010
ig1191010.pdf

We audited the Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) of People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) and three of its subgrantees based on the results of a separate audit of the City of Los Angeles Housing Department (Department). HPRP is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), and auditing the Recovery Act program is part of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) audit priorities. Our overall audit objective was to determine whether PATH administered its HPRP in accordance with the Recovery Act and other requirements. PATH did not always administer its HPRP in accordance with the Recovery Act and other requirements. We reviewed 30 participant files and determined that PATH and its subgrantees approved HPRP assistance for 4 ineligible participants and 13 participants whose eligibility was not supported. In addition, 18 of the 30 participant files had other miscellaneous deficiencies such as missing staff affidavit forms and missing participant household identification documents. As a result, we questioned the use of $29,214 in HPRP assistance provided to these participants.

We recommend that the Director of the Los Angeles Office of Community Planning and Development require PATH to (1) reimburse its HPRP $8,210 from non-Federal funds for 4 ineligible participants; (2) provide supporting documentation for 13 participants lacking adequate documentation or reimburse its HPRP $21,004 from non-Federal funds; (3) establish and implement sufficient HPRP eligibility and documentation policies and procedures for income determination, homelessness, financial resources, support networks, participant recertification, and subsequent housing options; (4) develop and implement procedures to ensure that its subgrantees verify and document participant eligibility in accordance with HPRP requirements; (5) ensure that staff affidavit forms are maintained in each participant file for each person determining eligibility and are signed by a supervisor; and (6) ensure that it follows its own internal policies when determining HPRP eligibility.