The Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino, CA, Did Not Adequately Support Administrative Fees Charged to Its Continuum of Care Grants

We audited the Housing Authority of the County of San Bernardino’s Continuum of Care grant funds received from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). We audited the Authority because it is among the top 15 percent of competitive grantees in HUD’s Office of Community Planning and Development’s risk analysis. Our audit objective was to determine whether the Authority administered its Continuum of Care grants in accordance with HUD requirements.The Authority did not have adequate support for the administrative fees charged to its Continuum of Care grants. This condition occurred because the Authority lacked a detailed written administrative fee cost allocation methodology in its policies and procedures. As a result, HUD had no assurance that administrative fees of $663,070 charged to the Continuum of Care grants were appropriate. We recommend that the Director of HUD’s Los Angeles Office of Community Planning and Development require the Authority to (1) adequately support the administrative fees or repay its Continuum of Care grants $663,070 from non-Federal funds, (2) submit an indirect cost rate schedule for its Continuum of Care grants to HUD for approval, and (3) develop and implement written policies and procedures for its administrative fee charges.