Wichita Housing Authority Didn’t Properly Administer Its HCV Program

HUD audited the Wichita Housing Authority’s Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) program because it received more than $12 million in Section 8 funding in both 2011 and 2012. Also, it’s one of the largest housing authorities in Kansas and hadn’t been recently reviewed.

The auditors found that the authority didn’t always properly administer its HCV program. It oversubsidized 30 of the 94 households reviewed and didn’t verify the use of additional bedrooms for medical or exercise equipment. Also, it didn’t accurately complete the tenant recertification form for 44 of the 94 households. According to the auditors, this occurred because the authority’s quality control reviews were inadequate and the authority didn’t have a system to track and verify tenants who were approved for an additional bedroom for medical or exercise equipment.

The auditors recommended that HUD require the authority to reimburse its HCV program $67,269 from administrative fee reserves. Also, they recommended that HUD ensure that the authority develops and implements a more comprehensive quality control program for its tenant files to ensure that it complies with HUD requirements and a process to track and perform annual inspections of households that receive an extra bedroom for medical or exercise equipment.

• HUD Audit Report 2012-KC-1005: Wichita Housing Authority, Wichita, KS (5/19/12)