County In Hot Water With HUD? – UPDATED
This from Mecklenburg Commissioner Bill James, posted on his Facebook page:
Disclosure: County has been called on the carpet for its lack of management of a HUD grant totalling (sic) $1.3 million. The result of this is that the sub-contractor of this program has been terminated (or in process of termination). I understand that the sub-contractor fired its CEO and COO as a result of this. possible HUD fines could be up to $500k over a 5 year period.
More details as they become available.
UPDATE: Yep, the county is in hot water with HUD – potentially boiling hot, from the sounds of it, and facing possible fines of up to a half-million dollars.
A Department of Housing and Urban Development audit of a locally-run program designed to help the chronically homeless find shelter and pay rent revealed serious failures in operations, oversight, and record-keeping, on the part of both county officials charged with administrating the program and a local non-profit group contracted to manage it.
The program – Shelter Care Plus – was managed by Mecklenburg Open Door, contracted through the county’s Area Mental Health Department. The county has received upwards of $2 million in HUD funding for the program since 2008. The audit, county officials contend, doesn’t indicate that any money was misspent or pilfered, just badly managed. A final report and recommendations from HUD are expected next month.
Problems with the program came to light after HUD officials conducted an on-site audit last month. Subsequent to the review, AMH canceled its contract with Mecklenburg Open Door and is currently managing the program in-house. Two top-management officials at Mecklenburg Open Door have recently resigned from the agency.
Mecklenburg commissioners discussed the HUD audit during a closed session before last night’s board meeting. Commissioner Bill James relayed details of the session, sans any talk of personnel issues, in a Facebook posting Wednesday night (see above – in breaking news first reported here and during The House Report on The Pete Kaliner Show, WBT 1110-AM.)
Documents released today by the county highlight myriad problems flagged by the HUD audit. Mecklenburg Open Door is cited for: lack of documentation in housing/client files; incomplete housing quality standards inspections; delinquent income verifications and rent calculations; leases and rent calculations not in file; and missing rent comparables.
Among the oversight infractions attributed to Mecklenburg County officials: large amount of funds to be recaptured has declined due to draws that were not made; processing draws without adequate supporting documentation; failing to comply with contract for services; lack of oversight of contractor; and giving in to demands of contractor and not holding them accountable.
We need your help! If you like PunditHouse, please consider donating to us. Even $5 a month can make a difference!
Short URL: https://pundithouse.com/?p=3322
