We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling update its policies and procedures to ensure consistency and adequacy of the agency approval, performance review, voucher approval, and termination and posttermination processes. Specifically, the updates should ensure that the deficiencies identified in this report are acknowledged and corrected going forward, including (1) updating the Housing Counseling Program…

We recommend that HUD’s Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Counseling ensure that the new Housing Counseling Agency Management System provides HUD with the ability to adequately oversee the work of its staff and track important housing counseling agency milestones, including HUD approval expirations and required terminations.

Transfer $78,786 ($22,601 $56,185) from its Family Self-Sufficiency account to its Housing Choice Voucher Program account for the overfunded and forfeited escrows.

Support or reimburse its Housing Choice Voucher Program $120,067 from non-Federal funds for unsupported graduation disbursements.

Reimburse its Housing Choice Voucher Program $12,460 from non-Federal funds for the ineligible disbursements.

Transfer $3,801 from its Housing Choice Voucher Program account to its Family Self-Sufficiency account for the underfunded escrows.

Reimburse one participant, $547 from its Family Self-Sufficiency program for the underpaid graduation payment.

Implement procedures and controls to ensure that documentation required by HUD and the Authority’s own action plan is correctly completed, documented, and updated.

Ensure that its staff is appropriately trained and familiar with HUD’s requirements and its program action plan regarding the administration of its program to ensure that (1) participants’ individual training and services plans are complete and contain appropriate goals to assist the family in achieving self-sufficiency, (2) participants are notified of their escrow account balances at least annually, and (3) contracts of participation are…

Ensure that its newly created policies and procedures include a process for ensuring that (1) escrow balances are correctly calculated and disbursed, (2) escrow accounts and disbursements are fully supported, and (3) forfeited escrow account funds are returned to the Housing Choice Voucher Program as required.

Determine the amount of the $445,122 in coordinator grant funds that were appropriately earned by the Authority for meeting requirements and paid to the coordinators while performing duties of the Family Self-Sufficiency program. The funds that are determined to be unearned should be reimbursed to HUD from non-Federal funds.

Reimburse its program $20,450 from non-Federal funds ($10,331 $10,119 in associated administrative fees) for the overpayment of housing assistance due to inappropriate calculations of housing assistance.

Reimburse the appropriate households $3,590 from program funds for the underpayment of housing assistance due to inappropriate calculations.

Support or reimburse its program $18,638 from non-Federal funds for the unsupported payments of housing assistance cited in this finding.

Enter into repayment agreements to pursue collection from the applicable households or reimburse its program $6,367 from non-Federal funds for the overpayment of housing assistance due to unreported or underreported income

Document the rationale and policy for the crosswalks used to prepare the financial statement note line items.

Document and implement policies and procedures, which include a review process to ensure that the general ledger accounts are correctly crosswalked to financial statement note line items.

Restate the fiscal year 2017 financial statement notes to correct inaccurate classifications, expenses, and market value balances reported by FHA.

In conjunction with the loan-servicing contractor, determine what actions can be taken to ensure that recorded assignments are reviewed in a timely manner after receipt.

Develop and implement a billing and sanctioning process to ensure that FHA bills servicers for the costs incurred to obtain recorded assignments from the counties’ recorder’s offices and sanctions the servicers when they do not provide the recorded assignments within 6 months of claim payment.