New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, New York, NY, Did Not Always Ensure That Units Met Housing Quality Standards but Generally Abated Payments When Required | Office of Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban Development

August 02, 2019

Public and Indian Housing

2019-NY-1003

2019-NY-1003.pdf

We audited the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (HPD) Housing Choice Voucher Program. We selected HPD for review based on its size and because we had not conducted an audit of its Housing Choice Voucher Program. The objective of the audit was to determine whether HPD ensured that its program units met HUD’s housing quality standards and whether it abated housing assistance payments when required.

HPD did not always ensure that its program units met housing quality standards and its quality control inspections met sample requirements, but it generally abated housing assistance payments when required. Of the 58 sample units inspected, 52 units had housing quality standards violations. While each of the 52 units had at least 1 violation, only 6 of the units materially failed to meet HUD’s standards. In addition, although HPD generally abated the correct amount of payments, we identified several areas in which it could improve its controls. These conditions occurred because HPD did not always thoroughly conduct inspections and used an inspection order form that did not identify the key aspects of housing quality standards performance; included non-program units in its quality control sample and conducted quality control inspections concurrently with unit inspections; and did not have adequate controls over abatements and inspection documentation. As a result, HPD disbursed $26,044 in housing assistance payments and received approximately $2,259 in administrative fees for units that materially failed to meet HUD’s housing quality standards. Further, HUD did not have assurance that HPD’s quality control process was fully effective and that it consistently carried out the abatement process, including maintaining records that were accurate and complete. By improving its inspection process, HPD could better ensure that $760,363 in future program funds is spent on units that meet HUD’s housing quality standards.

We recommend that HUD require HPD to (1) certify, along with the owners of the 52 units cited in the finding, that the applicable housing quality standards violations have been corrected; (2) reimburse its program from non-Federal funds $28,303 for the 6 units that materially failed to meet standards; (3) improve controls over its inspection process to ensure that units meet housing quality standards and that the results are used to enhance the effectiveness of its inspections; and (4) improve controls over its quality control sampling process and its abatement process.

Recommendations

Recommendation	Status	Date Issued	Summary
2019-NY-1003-001-A	Closed	August 02, 2019	We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New York Office of Public and Indian Housing require HPD to certify, along with the owners of the 52 units cited in the finding, that the applicable housing quality standards violations have been corrected.
2019-NY-1003-001-B	Closed	August 02, 2019	We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New York Office of Public and Indian Housing require HPD to reimburse its program $28,303 from non-Federal funds ($26,044 for housing assistance payments and $2,259 in associated administrative fees) for the six units that materially failed to meet HUD’s housing quality standards.
2019-NY-1003-001-C	Closed	August 02, 2019	We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New York Office of Public and Indian Housing require HPD to improve controls over its inspection process to ensure that program units meet housing quality standards and that the results of inspections are used to enhance the effectiveness of its housing quality standards inspections, thereby ensuring that an estimated $760,363 in future program funds is spent for units that meet HUD’s housing quality standards. These controls include but are not limited to controls to ensure that (1) inspectors apply their training to thoroughly inspect units and consistently categorize failure items, (2) inspectors use a form that includes the key aspects of housing quality standards performance and acceptability criteria, and (3) results data are accurate and comply with applicable requirements.
2019-NY-1003-001-D	Closed	August 02, 2019	We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New York Office of Public and Indian Housing require HPD to improve controls over the housing quality standards quality control inspections to ensure that quality control inspections meet HUD’s minimum sample size and that the sample is drawn from recently completed housing quality standards inspections.
2019-NY-1003-001-E	Closed	August 02, 2019	We recommend that the Director of HUD’s New York Office of Public and Indian Housing require HPD to improve controls over its abatement process to ensure that it consistently (1) starts abatement when required, (2) verifies and documents the correction of violations, (3) resumes housing assistance payments after the end of the abatement period, and (4) maintains sufficient documentation to support the abatement and reinstatement for each unit.