LYNN HOUSING AUTHORITY

2020-001 ? Eligibility U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development CFDA #: 14.871 ? Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program Material Noncompliance/ Material Weakness CRITERIA The PHA must conduct a reexamination of family income and composition at least annually. Except as provided in paragraph (a)(3) of this section, the PHA must obtain and document in the tenant file third-party verification of the following factors, or must document in the tenant file why third party verification was not available: (i) Reported family annual income, the value of assets, expenses related to deductions from annual income; and other factors that affect the determination of adjusted income. (24 CFR 982.516 (a)) CONDITION In our sample of forty Housing Choice Voucher tenant files, we identified the following: ? Five instances of untimely re-examinations ? Two instances of missing third party verifications of Income ? Two instances in which the applicable Earned Income Verification (EIV) report was not obtained ? One instance of third-party verifications not agreeing to the amounts used to calculate the participant?s annual income CAUSE The Authority is in the processing of implementing their corrective action plan from the prior year; as a result the Authority?s process for tracking rent reexaminations was not sufficient to prevent untimely reexaminations of tenant rent and housing assistance payment and the Authority did not have sufficient internal controls to ensure the HCV program operated in accordance with HUD Regulations. EFFECT Redetermination of tenant?s rent and the housing assistance payment was not performed in accordance with HUD regulations. As a result, tenants may have paid more or less in rent than they should have paid. QUESTIONED COSTS None Identified. CONTEXT We selected a sample of forty participants from a population of 1471. This was not a statistically valid sample. REPEAT FINDING This finding is repeated from finding 2019-002. RECOMMENDATION We recommend that the Authority continue to develop and implement sufficient internal control procedures to ensure that reexaminations are conducted in a timely manner. Further, we recommend that the Authority develop and implement a tenant file checklist to be used for all types of recertification to ensure the completeness of the documentation in the tenant file. AUDITEE?S RESPONSE AND PLANNED CORRECTIVE ACTION See Corrective Action Plan

CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN 2020-001 ? Eligibility U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development CFDA#: 14.871 ? Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program Material Noncompliance / Material Weakness Auditee?s Response and Planned Corrective Action LHAND has and will continue to implement the following corrective actions, as instructed by the Executive Director, to address findings identified: ? Beginning in the fall of 2019 LHAND contracted with an outside agency to complete annual recertifications in an effort to improve the backlog of late recertifications. Additionally this has provided existing LHAND staff with the opportunity to move ahead and be proactive in addressing problems. It also allowed us to improve on internal training materials and move forward with implementation. ? COVID waivers have allowed us extensions on some 2020 and 2021 re-exams. We have utilized these waivers along with the outside agency to improve late re-exam statistics and we continue to review any staffing restructures needed. ? Late HCV re-exams have gone from 280 in September 2019 (PIC/SEMAP report) to 30 in November 2020. ? LHAND hired two new HCV Case Representatives 6 months ago. The two new hires were the first to undergo an onboarding new hire training provided by Human Resources and the Compliance Department prior to officially transitioning to the Rental Assistance office. This new training structure has been developed in an effort to increase efficiency. ? LHAND staff will be reminded of the importance to utilize and COMPLETE applicable file checklists. These checklists have been there to ensure staff are reviewing files for appropriate verifications, EIV reports, forms as well as signatures and dates. ? LHAND transitioned to a new housing software system over a year ago. We were trained incorrectly and thus have had to seek an outside vendor to train and assist with various system set up and fixes. By staff not being trained fully and a combination of the programs not being set up completely or correctly, this has hindered our ability to enter information timely or fully. We have been utilizing this outside vendor to assist with these challenges. We hope to see improvement as a result of the corrective system set ups and training. ? Due to COVID and staff shifting from working remotely to working in the office, we have taken a new approach to staff trainings. We have implemented materials and formats where staff can train on their own from work or home at their own pace and must certify that they have completed subjects by a deadline Compliance Department has broken down subject matter into blocks and we are continuing to roll this out to staff periodically. ? Staff continues to adapt to challenges related to COVID and remote work. This will be ongoing for the foreseeable future. COVID forced us to make changes quickly to meet demand and this has gone well considering all the obstacles. ? Finally with all the strides and improvements LHAND has made, combined with the effects of COVID on the workplace, LHAND knows we will see improvements and understands that the full benefits may not be seen immediately. Planned Implementation Date of Corrective Action: July 2019 Person Responsible for Corrective Action: Charles Gaeta, Executive Director (781)581-8600

2019-002

2019-002 ? Eligibility U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development CFDA #: 14.871 - Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers Program Material Noncompliance / Material Weakness CRITERIA The PHA must conduct a reexamination of family income and composition at least annually. Except as provided in paragraph (a)(3) of this section, the PHA must obtain and document in the tenant file third-party verification of the following factors, or must document in the tenant file why thirdparty verification was not available: (i) Reported family annual income, the value of assets, expenses related to deductions from annual income; and other factors that affect the determination of adjusted income. (24 CFR 982.516 (a)) As a condition of admission to or continued assistance under the program, the PHA shall require the family head, and such other family members as the PHA designates, to execute a HUDapproved release and consent form. (24 CFR 982.516(g)(1)) The payment standard for the family is the lower of: the payment standard amount for the family unit size, or the payment standard amount for the size of the dwelling unit rented by the family. (24 CFR 982.505(c)) CONDITION In our sample of forty Housing Choice Voucher tenant files, we identified the following: ? Nine instances of untimely re-examinations ? Six instances of missing third party verifications of income, assets, or deductions ? Two instances of third party verifications not agreeing to the amounts used to calculate the tenant?s annual income. ? Two instances of using an incorrect payment standard. ? One instance of the release and consent form not being signed by two household members over the age of 18. CAUSE The Authority?s process for tracking rent reexaminations was not sufficient to prevent untimely reexaminations of tenant rent and housing assistance payment. The Authority did not have sufficient internal controls to ensure the HCV program operated in accordance with HUD regulations. EFFECT Redetermination of tenant?s rent and the housing assistance payment was not performed in accordance with HUD regulations. As a result, tenants may have paid more or less in rent than they should have paid QUESTIONED COSTS None identified. CONTEXT We selected a sample of forty voucher holders from a population of 1,289. This was not a statistically valid sample. REPEAT FINDING Not a repeat finding. RECOMMENDATION We recommend that the Authority develop and implement sufficient internal control procedures to ensure that reexaminations are conducted in a timely manner. Further, we recommend that the Authority develop and implement a tenant file checklist to be used for all types of recertification to ensure the completeness of the documentation in the tenant file. AUDITEE?S RESPONSE AND PLANNED CORRECTIVE ACTION See Corrective Action Plan.

2019-002-Eligibility U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development CFDA#: 14.871-Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program Material Weakness/Material Noncompliance Condition In our sample of Housing Choice Voucher tenant files, we identified the following: ? Nine instances of untimely reexaminations ? Six instances of missing third party verifications of income, assets, or deductions ? Two instances of third party verifications not agreeing to the amounts used to calculate the tenant?s annual income ? Two instances of using an incorrect payment standard ? One instance of the release and consent form not being signed by two household members over the age of 18 Response LHAND has and/ or will be implementing the following Corrective Actions to address findings identified: ? Beginning in September 2018, LHAND contracted with an outside consulting company to evaluate the Rental Assistance Department ? Staff movement began in February 2019 and is ongoing as part of implementation of recommendations provided by the above mentioned review ? In July 2019 contracting began with an outside firm to complete re-exams as part of the solution to address the need for timely re-exams ? Implementation of new Federal software system occurred in June of 2019, we are encouraged that with proper training the new system will allow for quicker processing ? Rental Assistance coordinates with the Compliance Department to coordinate staff training as needed, staff training is ongoing as topics are identified ? Internal policies include that each tenant file should have an Occupancy Checklist ? The Compliance Department conducts periodic file reviews

GSA_MIGRATION

GSA_MIGRATION