HUD Downgrades Troubled SF Housing Authority

HUD recently declared the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA) a “troubled” agency and dispatched agents to review the agency’s finances and management failures. The team of experts from HUD began on Jan. 7 to review SFHA’s books. The decision to downgrade the agency came in an Oct. 31 letter to the city’s Housing Authority Board, with a copy to San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee.

In addition to the “troubled” status for public housing, SFHA already faced stepped up monitoring if its Section 8 program that provides rental assistance for program participants in privately owned units. The agency scored zero points in its Section 8 program because it failed to submit its report. San Francisco's “troubled” status was due to low scores for management of the agency and its finances. On financials, SFHA scored five points out of a possible 30, and on management it scored 12 points out of a possible 25. On physical conditions, SFHA barely made it above the cut-off with 27 out of 40 points. The agency’s total score was 54 out of a possible 100. The score was a drop from a score of 75 the prior year.

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