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Post-Scandal Audit Nets Praise For Housing Authority

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 19, 2008

Updated: 11/19/2008 02:54 pm

TAMPA - Four years after a scandal that bilked nearly $126,000 from a federal assistance program, the Tampa Housing Authority is being lauded for continuing to improve how it manages tenants in its Housing Choice Voucher program, formerly known as Section 8.

An annual audit for the fiscal year ending March 31 listed no issues with the program and found that the agency had taken action after being cited for not thoroughly checking the eligibility of Section 8 tenants and recertifying tenants in a timely manner.

The 2007 audit cited the Housing Choice Voucher program for three calculation errors found during a random sample of 40 tenants. The authority has about 4,600 Section 8 tenants.

The miscalculations could have resulted in incorrect payments to landlords, the audit stated.

"This year, they're saying it's been fixed," said Andy Libby, the authority's chief financial officer and senior vice president.

The audit was presented this morning to the authority's board at its monthly meeting. It was completed Saturday by Berman Hopkins Wright and LaHam CPAs and Associates of Melbourne.

Scrutiny of the former Section 8 program has increased since 2005, when housing officials learned the authority's computer system had been breached and manipulated to allow access to personal information.

That information was used to create fake tenant records and approve bogus landlords.

An investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Inspector General led to federal indictments of 13 people in December, including three former Section 8 employees and 10 of their friends and relatives who were set up as landlords to receive HUD rent subsidies — money earmarked to help the poorest of the poor find housing.

Section 8 tenants often depend on the government to help offset housing costs. Housing authority applicants can wait years for assistance.

The federal investigation found that from March 2004 to March 2005, the employees established friends and relatives as landlords, assigned them ineligible or inactive housing applicants and then issued periodic rent checks.

After the scandal, the authority revamped its computer system, adding security features that mandate that passwords and access codes are regularly changed. Housing officials increased oversight for data being added to the computer system, particularly the designating of landlords.

The agency also began restricting access to information such as Social Security numbers and dates of birth, which could be used to create false records.

"It's still an area of focus and always will be an area of focus" for auditors, Libby said. "That also keeps management focused on [it] – that's the real key."

Reporter John W. Allman can be reached at (813) 259-7915.

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