“Federal auditors found the Bridgeport Housing Authority improperly set rental rates for more than 150 tenants, causing the authority to forego millions in revenue that it could have reinvested in its properties,” according to a story by Zack Janowski, reporter for the Yankee Institute’s Raising Hale. The audit also raised issues about unreported conflicts of interest.
From Janowski’s article:
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Inspector General, following up on a previous report that faulted the authority for offering employees “Cadillac” health insurance, said the authority, also known as Park City Communities, has not updated its flat rent since 2004.
Since the cost of housing has risen since 2004, the authority should have updated its flat rents, according to the report released last month.
Full story here.
I’m skeptical because Janowski has a vested interest in finding fraud and abuse. It’s needed content and doesn’t represent discovery–it represents justification.
Is ‘Local Eyes’ saying Janowski is somehow biased because the report supports his position?
I read the report and have a better idea of how the Federal program from HUD impacts Bridgeport. It appears around 5400 housing units, those run directly by the Bridgeport Housing Authority and those maintained with Section 8 vouchers, are part of the program that costs some $46 Million.
From a financial viewpoint the most serious fault was the failure to understand “market rents” on which flat rents are based for comparable units. Thus since 2004 some 161 units were “underpaying” comparable rents under their “flat rent” choice. The report calculated the revenue underpayment to be around $51,000 per month or $616,000 per year. I guess you can look at this one way and say 161 units are less than 10% of that group. Or on the other hand you can cite perhaps $6 Million was lost over 10 years.
For me, an important item like this should have been on a checklist for BHA administrators as an automatic duty each year as part of annual reporting. Why isn’t this S.O.P.? Time will tell.