oversight

Telephone: (913) 551-5870        http://www.hud.gov/oig/oigindex.html                Fax: (913) 551-5877



                                                     U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
                                                     Office of Inspector General for Audit
                                                     Great Plains Region, 7AGA
                                                     Gateway Tower II - 5th Floor
                                                     400 State Avenue
                                                     Kansas City, Kansas 66101-2406




                                                                    MEMORANDUM NO: 2003-KC-1802


December 26, 2002

MEMORANDUM FOR: Andrew L. Beoddeker, Director, Office of Public Housing, 7APH



FROM:             Roger E. Niesen, Regional Inspector for Audit, 7AGA

SUBJECT:          Housing Authority of Independence
                  Section 8 Review
                  Independence, Missouri


                                           INTRODUCTION

We have completed a review of the Section 8 department of the Housing Authority of
Independence. We conducted this review as a follow-up to a prior audit in which we identified
discrepancies in the Authority’s Section 8 department. The overall objective of our review was
to determine if the Authority’s Section 8 department is complying with applicable HUD rules and
regulations. We determined that the Authority has an effective and well-run Section 8
department and is substantially complying with all applicable rules and regulations .


                                 METHODOLOGY AND SCOPE

We reviewed and evaluated the Authority’s Adminstrative Plan, Admissions and Continued
Occupancy Policy, as well as some recent updates to their policies and procedures applicable to
their Section 8 department. We also reviewed HUD’s rules and regulations as well as applicable
Code of Federal Regulations to ensure the Authority was in compliance. We selected 45
tenant/potential tenant files to assure that there was proper documentation showing that the
Authority followed the rules and regulations applicable to their Section 8 department. In
addition, we interviewed four Authority employees to verify that they complied with applicable
rules and regulations when processing Section 8 requests.
 Telephone: (913) 551-5870      http://www.hud.gov/oig/oigindex.html        Fax: (913) 551-5877



                                          BACKGROUND

On September 5, 1961, the City Council of Independence, Missouri adopted a City ordinance that
created the Housing Authority of the City of Independence, Missouri. The ordinance declared
the need for a housing authority in the City of Independence, based on stipulations of “The
Housing Authorities Law” of the State of Missouri.

The Authority’s Administrative Plan stated that in 1974 the Section 8 Program was enacted as
part of the Housing and Community Development Act. The Act and its requirements have been
amended from time to time as they apply to the Section 8 Tenant-Based Assistance Program.
The Section 8 Program is designed to achieve three major objectives:

        1)    Provide decent, safe, and sanitary housing for very low-income families while
              maintaining their rent payments at an affordable level.
        2)    Promote freedom of housing choice and spatial deconcentration of very low-income
              families of all races and ethnic backgrounds.
        3)    Provide an incentive to private property owners to rent to very low-income families
              by offering timely assistance payments.

In addition, the Authority has the following program goals:

        1) To assist the local economy by increasing the occupancy rate and the amount of
           money flowing to the community.
        2) To encourage self-sufficiency of participant families.


                                     RESULTS OF REVIEW

Based on our testing, we determined that the Authority is substantially complying with all rules
and regulations applicable to their Section 8 department. For example, the Authority met the
general requirements for selecting applicants and maintaining waiting lists. Additionally, the
Authority had an acceptable Administrative Plan that met HUD’s criteria. Through our review of
45 tenant files, we identified only two minor discrepancies that were not significant and could be
reasonably explained. Two files did not contain an initial application as required by the
Authority’s policies and procedures. One file was for a tenant who transferred from another
housing authority, and the other file was for a tenant that had moved to the Authority in 1993.
Both files, however, contained a detailed application. Our review did not identify any areas
requiring corrective action.




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Telephone: (913) 551-5870     http://www.hud.gov/oig/oigindex.html   Fax: (913) 551-5877



                            DISTRIBUTION OUTSIDE OF HUD

Chairman, Committee of Government Affairs
  (senator_lieberman@lieberman.senate.gov)
Ranking Member, Committee of Government Affairs
  (senator_thompson@thompson.senate.gov)
Senior Advisor, Subcommittee of Criminal Justice, Drug Policy & Human Resources
  (sharon.pinkerton@mail.house.gov)
House Committee on Financial Services
  (andy.cochran@mail.house.gov)
Senior Counsel, Committee on Financial Services
  (clinton.jones@mail.house.gov)
Committee on Financial Services
  (kay.gibbs@mail.house.gov)
Director, Housing and Telecommunications Issues, U.S. GAO
  (czerwinskiS@GAO.gov)
Chief Housing Branch, Office of Management and Budget
  (fredburn@omb.eop.gov)
Department of Veteran Affairs, Office of Inspector General
  (linda.halliday@mail.va.gov)
Assistant Inspector General for Health Care Financing Audits
  (meddo@os.dhhs.gov)
Chairman, Committee of Government Reform, 2185 Rayburn Building, House of
  Representatives, Washington, DC 20515
Ranking Member, Committee of Government Reform, 2204 Rayburn Building, House of
  Representatives, Washington, DC 20515




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