KITSAP COMMUNITY RESOURCES

COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program ? CFDA 21.019 2021-001 Criteria and Condition: Grant is funded through the Federal CARES Act from the Department of Treasury to Washington State Department of Commerce to Kitsap County and then to sub-recipient Kitsap Community Resources. Grant funding supports activities that will reduce the likelihood of eviction among low-income households, with a focus on ensuring that historically underserved populations have information about, and access to this resource. Context: Kitsap Community Resources (KCR) has multiple contracts with Kitsap County (the County) to provide homeless and housing services as well as other human welfare services. A program known as Kitsap Eviction Prevention Assistance (KEPA) run by the County was established to assist households with submitting KEPA applications. In addition to contracting with KCR the County also utilizes what?s known as ?by and for? organizations (referring agencies) to assist households with preparation and submission of KEPA applications to KCR. KCR follows the policies and documentation requirements of the Washington State Department of Commerce and KCR?s policy is to qualify KEPA applicants whenever possible. Cause: There were numerous rule changes, referring agencies were assisting prepare client applications, multiple housed residents were being moved, staff turnover, and lack of training on updated rules, were contributing factors. Effect: During early summer of 2021, a temporary housing location was needed to relocate a number of local residents until a more permanent location was ready. Referring agencies requested the County and KCR help existing clients that would be displaced. Some of these clients had already been helped by KCR?s eviction prevention program. After various conversations regarding this matter KCR determined that some clients had credits on their account, a number of long-term residents changed multiple times, and the number of clients that were requesting further assistance could not be verified. As a result of these issues KCR identified one hotel property and commenced an internal audit of the hotel property with their cooperation. The results of the findings; KCR overpaid rent totaling $114,960 to the hotel property. The hotel property agreed with the audit findings and KCR received a full refund of the $114,960 on 9/14/2021 the refund was deposited into KCR?s bank account. KCR subsequently issued a reimbursement check #52696 to the County on 9/30/21. As of the date of our audit report, check #52696 issued to the County remains outstanding and has not been deposited by the County despite email communication that KCR would be sending a check to the County for subsequent reimbursement to the Department of Commerce. This is considered a significant deficiency of non-compliance. However please note, we do not report a dollar finding as this mistake was detected by KCR and KCR was reimbursed in whole. Recommendation: Established policies and procedures should be followed and updated as rules change. Training should be a priority. KCR should follow up with the County in a timely manner when checks become stale. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: KCR agrees with the finding and has updated policies to prevent residents and property owners from receiving improper payment and reimbursement. Further KCR has communicated the County regarding the stale check. The County requested a replacement check and KCR has issued the replacement check. Questioned Cost $0

COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program ? CFDA# 21.019 2021-002 Criteria and Condition: Grant is funded through the Federal CARES Act from the Department of Treasury to Washington State Department of Commerce to Kitsap County and then to sub-recipient Kitsap Community Resources. Grant funding supports activities that will reduce the likelihood of eviction among low-income households, with a focus on ensuring that historically underserved populations have information about, and access to this resource. Context: Kitsap Community Resources (KCR) has multiple contracts with Kitsap County (the County) to provide homeless and housing services as well as other human welfare services. A program known as Kitsap Eviction Prevention Assistance (KEPA) run by the County has several funding sources for rental assistance. Programs funded by the CARES Act to provide rental assistance were ramped up during 2021. KCR has written policies and procedures in place that are updated as changes take place. In addition to the written policies and procedures KCR utilizes multipage forms from the Washington State Department of Commerce to document program eligibility. Intake is handled by staff in the KCR housing department. Once staff completes the paperwork it is sent to fiscal with a purchase order for payment. Upon receiving the documents from the housing department fiscal undertakes a review of the documentation before final approval and payment. If errors are discovered documents are returned to staff in housing for necessary corrections. During our audit to include inquiry, inspection, and observation, we became aware of a high number of documents submitted by housing to fiscal that were reviewed and returned to housing to correct application errors. Cause: During this period of time there were numerous rule changes, lack of training on rule changes, and staff turnover, were contributing factors. Effect: There is an increased risk of mistakes not being detected by fiscal if housing continues to make errors related to eligibility for housing assistance. This is considered a significant deficiency of internal control in the housing department. Recommendation: Staff in housing require additional training to increase their knowledge and eliminate mistakes. Staff must review their work for errors before submitting to fiscal. Views of Responsible Officials and Planned Corrective Actions: KCR agrees with the finding and is in the process of improving procedures to ensure eligible tenants receive payments in accordance with contract requirements. Training is being updated and provided to KCR staff to increase knowledge and awareness of contract requirements. Questioned Cost $0

GSA_MIGRATION