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Audit Praises Housing Office's Improvements

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By JOHN W. ALLMAN

jallman@tampatrib.com

Published: November 20, 2008

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 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 previously being cited for not thoroughly checking the eligibility of tenants and recertifying them in a timely manner.

The audit was presented Wednesday 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 discovered the authority's computer system had been breached and manipulated to allow access to personal information.

That data 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 2007, including three former Section 8 employees and 10 of their friends and relatives who were set up as landlords to receive HUD rent subsidies from money earmarked to help the poor find housing.

The authority has since revamped its computer system to regularly change passwords and access codes; increased oversight for data being added to the computer system, particularly the designating of landlords; and restricted access to information that can be used to create false records.

Andy Libby, the authority's chief financial officer, said the scandal means that auditors, and HUD, will maintain a higher level of scrutiny for years to come. "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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