We audited the Housing Authority of the City of Tulsa’s administration of its Section 8 program.  We selected the Authority based on reports generated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Enterprise Income Verification system (EIV).  The Authority had indicators of noncompliance with program requirements.  Specifically, EIV reported an annualized income discrepancy of more than $1.6 million for 328 tenants in the Authority’s Section 8 program.  The objective of the audit was to determine whether the Authority conducted tenant certifications and calculated housing assistance payments for its Section 8 program in accordance with HUD’s admission and occupancy requirements.

The Authority did not always comply with program requirements in accordance with HUD’s rules and regulations.  Specifically, it did not ensure that its staff computed housing assistance payments correctly for 13 of 25 tenant files (52 percent) reviewed and monitored EIV income discrepancy reports as required.  This condition occurred because the Authority did not follow its income calculation requirements.  In addition, it did not have policies and procedures to monitor the EIV income discrepancy reports.  As a result, it spent $41,313 on ineligible and unsupported housing assistance payments and may have spent more because it did not adequately use the EIV income discrepancy reports.

We recommended that HUD require the Authority to (1) repay $12,739 from non-Federal funds to its Section 8 program for ineligible payments; (2) support or repay $28,574 from non-Federal funds to its Section 8 program for unsupported payments; and (3) strengthen its controls over its income verification process, including the use of the EIV discrepancy report to support tenant-reported income.