Columbia Catholic Housing for the Elderly II Inc.

Condition: During procedures applied to a sample of 28 tenant lease files, we noted that 8 of those tenants had not had an annual inspection of their unit performed during the last 12 months. We noted additional units that would have been due for an annual inspection during early 2020, but we did not include these units in our deviation count due to circumstances related to COVID-19 that were out of the Project?s control. Criteria: Under the Special Tests and Provisions compliance requirement, the housing quality standards provision requires that annual inspections must be done at the time of initial occupancy, and at least annually thereafter. Cause: The Project experienced turnover of management assistance personnel during the year, and during the training and transition period, there was not adequate time to perform the inspections as they were due. As a result, the manager became backlogged in performing the inspections. The backlog was worsened due to the COVID-19 pandemic, during which time the Project will not be entering tenant units due to safety concerns. Effect: The procedures for maintaining tenant housing inspections were not consistently applied in accordance with HUD requirements. Recommendation: We recommend that the Project comply with written procedures to inspect units that are past the annual inspection period when such inspections are safe to perform. Views of responsible officials and planned corrective actions: All annual inspections will be performed at the time of annual certification, when safe to do so.