Six-figure income in public housing

Several families living in the Berwick, Morgan City and Patterson housing au-thorities allegedly had in-comes thousands of dollars in excess of the U.S. Depart-ment of Housing and Urban Development's limits to live there, according to a U.S. Inspector General audit.
Current rules require an income check before families move in to public housing, and incomes are checked annually afterward. But there is no rule requiring residents to be evicted if their incomes rise above the eligibility limit.
Clarence Robinson, who serves as director of both Berwick’s and Morgan City’s housing authorities, said both authorities are in the process of changing their policies in regard to allowing over-income residents in the public housing. In 2004, HUD gave housing authorities the choice of whether to change their policies to no longer allow over-income residents to live there, Robinson said. Most housing authorities didn’t change the policy at that time, he said.
“From 1998 to 2003, the federal government said you can have anybody you want in there,” Robinson said.
A public hearing will be held at 2 p.m. Dec. 17 at the Berwick Housing Authority residents’ center to discuss possible changes to the authority’s policy regarding over-income residents and to address the overall lease and occupancy policy of the housing authority.
Robinson encouraged any-one with questions about public housing to attend the meeting.
The audit report, dated July 21, audited the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s public housing program and con-ducted the audit as part of the inspector general’s annual audit plan and a congressional request, the report stated.
The auditors’ objective was to determine the extent to which HUD-subsidized public housing units were occupied by over-income families and evaluate the impact of HUD policies, the report said.
The Berwick Housing Au-thority had one family living there that had an annual income of $115,908, which was over HUD’s income limit of $35,550 for the family to reside there, according to the audit.
Robinson told WAFB-Baton Rouge that the family in question has lived at the Berwick authority 10 to 15 years.
Berwick had 11 other families that also had incomes above the limit including households that were $35,891, $22,634, $17,696 and $10,657 over the income threshold, the audit said.
Berwick and Morgan City can’t evict over-income residents until they change their policies, Robinson said.
Over-income residents in the housing authorities pay “top dollar,” or market value, to rent units, he said.
“People’s tax dollars are not being wasted,” Robinson said.
Berwick has 18 people on its waiting list to get into public housing, Robinson said, but most of those are waiting for single-bedroom homes. Two families are on the waiting list for two-bedroom units, while just one family is on the three-bedroom wait list, he said.
“Typically, the higher in-come people that were in question are the two- and three-bedroom places,” Robinson said.
Housing authorities re-certify families every year to determine whether they still meet the requirements to live in public housing, Robinson said.
If higher income residents move out, taxpayers will have to pay more toward public housing due to a higher occupancy of low-income residents, Robinson said.
The Patterson Housing Authority also had 11 families living within the authority that had incomes in excess of the limit, including families making $35,787, $18,260 and $13,766 in excess of the income limit, the audit stated.
The Daily Review called Patterson Housing Authority director Susan Mendoza for comment on the audit. Mendoza said she wasn’t aware of the audit and needed to look at it before commenting. As of 11:30 a.m. today, Mendoza had not yet called The Daily Review back to comment.
Additionally, 17 families in the Morgan City Housing Authority were residents at the authority even though they made more income than allowed, according to the audit report. Among those families were ones with incomes $34,858, $33,490, $23,984, $22,812, $20,699, $20,166, and $19,878 above the income limit to reside there, the report stated.
Public housing authorities provided public housing assistance to as many as 25,226 families whose income exceeded HUD’s 2014 eligibility income limits, the audit report said. Of these 25,226 families, 17,761 had earned more than the qualifying amount for more than one year.
HUD regulations require families to meet eligibility income limits only when they are admitted to the public housing program. The regulations do not limit the length of time that families may reside in public housing, the report said.
However, HUD’s December 2004 public housing final rule gave public housing authorities discretion to establish and implement policies that would require families with incomes above the eligibility income limits to find housing in the unassisted market.
The 15 housing authorities that the inspector general contacted choose to allow over-income families to reside in public housing, the report said. HUD did not encourage them to require over-income families to find housing in the unassisted market.
As a result, HUD did not assist as many low-income families in need of housing as it could have, the report said. Auditors estimate that HUD will pay $104.4 million during the next year for public housing units occupied by over-income families that otherwise could have been used to house low-income families.
Although it would be rea-sonable to expect that a minimum number of over-income families would reside in public housing at any time, HUD can significantly reduce the number of over-income families that reside in public housing, the report said.