By Jon Brooks, KQED News Fix
A performance audit of the San Francisco Housing Authority finds that management problems at the federally funded program have led to a serious shortage of funds and a lack of oversight, vision and planning.
Released Monday, the audit examines how well the Housing Authority is managing its $210 million budget and keeping up with the needs of 31,000 residents in more than 6,000 public housing units.
The Board of Supervisors directed its Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office to conduct the audit after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development gave the agency a score of 54 out of 100 in December. That put the Housing Authority on HUD’s “troubled” list, “making it ineligible to apply for competitive grants and meaning it must right itself to avoid penalties, including being placed in receivership,” the S.F. Chronicle reported at the time. Richmond is the only other housing agency of the 114 in California that is on the troubled list.
The Chronicle had previously done a series of unflattering stories on Henry Alvarez, the former director of the agency, who was let go in April. Alvarez had been the target of discrimination lawsuits by Housing Authority employees, as well as allegations of favoritism in awarding contracts. An investigation by former City Attorney Louise Renne found that Alvarez’s behavior toward his staff was unprofessional but did not rise to the level of legal discrimination or harassment.
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