Press Release  Audit Finds Significant Expenditure, Rent Assessment, Documentation Issues at Wareham Housing Authority

Boston — Auditor Suzanne M. Bump today released an audit of the Wareham Housing Authority, which found significant issues with its expenditures, rent assessment, and documentation practices. The audit was initiated at the request of the Authority’s board of commissioners, who suspected irregularities and questionable activities.

“Accountability is about more than reacting to problems that others find; it is about proactively seeking out areas of concern, and finding ways to address them. I commend the board of commissioners of the Wareham Housing Authority for seeking the independent assessment provided by my office to identify problems they suspected existed,” Bump said of the audit. “Through our work, we found systemic problems, particularly in the areas of financial and records management. I’m pleased the board has begun to address the problems we identified, and I hope they continue to implement the recommendations of our audit.”

The audit highlights several instances where the Authority’s oversight of its expenditures, record keeping practices, and documentation were lacking. The Authority did not:

• Ensure its former executive director completed timesheets for a three year period, meaning there is not a record of her attendance or use of sick and vacation time;
• Submit the contract for its former executive director to the Department of Housing and Community Development, allowing for the omission of critical information, including annual salary;
• Properly administer payment of nearly $23,000 in expenses, and did not document over $12,000 in credit card expenses.
• Properly calculate and document tenant rent determinations, and had inadequate controls and documentation for tenant rent payments, the audit found; and
• Correctly document waiting lists, vacant-unit lists, unit inspections, and inventory lists.

In the audit, Bump provides recommendations for addressing the identified problems. Recommendations include strengthening their oversight of expenditures, particularly in the realm of compensation and time and attendance records, bolstering their policies and procedures for maintenance of proper documentation, and reviewing tenant accounts and providing refunds to tenants if appropriate. The Authority’s board indicated they are taking steps to implement the recommendations and address the identified problems.

The Wareham Housing Authority manages and oversees 104 state-subsidized housing units for elderly tenants. It also manages 50 Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program units. It previously managed 20 federally subsidized units. It is governed by a five-member board of commissioners, four of which are elected by the citizens of Wareham, and the fifth is a state appointee.

The Wareham Housing Authority audit is available here.

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