BLANCO RIVER REGIONAL RECOVERY TEAM

Federal Awarding Agency – U.S. Department of the Treasury Pass-Through Entity – Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs Assistance Listing and Title – 21.023 Emergency Rental Assistance Program Condition: Through an internal review prompted by information provided from Sutton Apartment tenants, BR3T identified fourteen cases where rental assistance payments made by BR3T for security deposits, utility deposits, and application fees were misappropriated by the contracted housing provider (unrelated to the one documented in finding 2022-001). For these cases, assistance payments amounted to $6,183 during the year ended December 31, 2023. Criteria: Per 2 CRF section 200.516(a)(6), an auditor must report known or likely fraud affecting a federal program award. Effect: BR3T issued rental assistance payments to a housing provider based on misleading or inaccurate documentation. Cause of Condition: The housing provider supplied misleading or inaccurate documentation to BR3T in order to receive rental assistance payments. Recommendation: We recommend management terminate its relationship with the housing provider and return the federal funds to the grantor for the cases identified by BR3T. Management Response: Management accepts the finding and recommendation.