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Release of final HUD housing report expected in March

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U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) officials expect to release a final report on the investigation into the San Carlos Apache Housing Authority (SCAHA) sometime next month, after receiving a response from Tribal leadership to a draft report that found extensive mismanagement of assets and funds intended to provide housing to the poorest members of the Tribe.

“The Tribe requested an extension, and we gave them one on the condition that something is done,” Grants Evaluation Director, Southwest Office of Native American Programs (SWONAP), Rebecca Halloran, said. “The SCAHA was granted an extension on their response date to Feb. 2, 2019, so the shutdown did not affect their ability to respond. Our office has 30 days to issue the final report, until March 4, 2019, at which point the report will be available.”

Meanwhile, Tribal leadership is seeking a new CEO for SCAHA as it awaits a final verdict on how much it will have to reimburse the U.S. Treasury in the wake of the scathing report released last year, documenting systemic abuses and lapses in leadership for the agency in charge of low-income housing on the Reservation.

Despite repeated requests for comment by the Silver Belt/Moccasin, there has been no response from Tribal leadership.

Systemic problems within SCAHA came to light last September after HUD’s draft report was leaked to the public. The SWONAP investigations took place in June 2018, after a complaint signed by 119 San Carlos Tribal members was submitted on May 4, 2017.

“Several complaints from San Carlos Tribal Members were received by SWONAP related to the administration of the housing programs,” the report stated. “A common element of the complaints was an inequitable application of the policies and lack of transparency and public availability of policies. Some cited conflicts of interest in the selection of occupants by the [housing authority’s board of commissioners],” the report states.

Investigators spent four days at SCAHA, combing through available records, interviewing staff and inspecting housing.

The report found mismanagement of Tribal assets and included a variety of other allegations centered on former SCAHA Executive Director Ronald Boni, including the use of unauthorized cell phones and credit cards issued to Tribal members not employed by SCAHA.

SCAHA maintenance staff was also used for activities not related to housing, including “funeral services, which are not an eligible affordable housing activity.”

The report detailed “dysfunctional organization structure,” and also identified serious problems with SCAHA-managed housing stock, including “mold in kitchen cabinets, inoperable bathroom vent fans, non-working windows, leaking pipes, exposed electrical wires, damaged floors, eroded cabinets in bathroom and kitchen, etc. SCAHA’s tenants are living in unsafe and unsanitary units,” the report stated.

There were also issues with physical inventory and maintenance of records regarding property owned by SCAHA, leading to loss, damage or theft of property, or in some cases, even finding said property.

“SCAHA has not demonstrated that it can locate purchased property or ensure it is being used for the intended purpose,” the report stated.

Throughout July and August, SWONAP called on the agency to secure its accounts and return more than $7 million in investment funds, with interest, but SCAHA never responded to the request.

Boni was placed on administrative leave on July 9, 2018, replaced by Tribal Councilmember John Antonio, Jr.

Boni was subsequently released from his position on Oct. 10, 2018.

Repeated requests for comment from Antonio also went unanswered.

As a result of the investigation, SCAHA is no longer eligible for grants and funding that would otherwise be available to help mitigate the damage that is expected to run into millions of dollars.

Overall, the SWONAP review identified 15 “findings” and three “concerns” surrounding operations, and called for immediate action to repair the agency that receives millions in federal funding each year.

“The observed state of housing stock maintained by SCAHA does not reflect the roughly $6 million annually, totaling over $130 million since 1998, for low-income San Carlos Apache Tribal members. Much of SCAHA’s managed housing stock is in deplorable, sometimes uninhabitable condition,” the report states. “The services are not satisfactorily provided to the community to include some for which tenants are charged, like garbage collection.”

There were other complaints about SCAHA’s lack of protocol for informing homebuyers of the status of their loans and the transfer of title once the house was paid off.

The housing authority’s leadership received the brunt of criticism, but investigators praised members of SCAHA’s staff, which has been working under duress throughout the process.

“It should be noted that despite SWONAP’s communication and cooperation difficulties with SCAHA management, the majority of the SCAHA staff are knowledgeable, conscientious and dedicated to serving their community,” the report stated.

The White Mountain Apache Tribe faced a similar situation in 2014, when HUD completed an audit into the White Mountain Apache Housing Authority (WMAHA) that found $2.3 million of Indian Housing Block Grant funds misspent and another $8.2 million in spending that was not properly documented.

Since then, WMAHA cooperated with HUD and by 2017 had its restrictions lifted.