Missouri public housing officials improperly exempted virtually everybody living in a 200-unit facility from federal rules requiring that able-bodied residents help with maintenance and cleanup work, according to a government watchdog.
“The community service and self-sufficiency requirement is intended to assist adult public housing residents in improving their own economic and social well-being and to give these residents a greater stake in their communities,” said the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general.
“The requirement allows residents an opportunity to ‘give something back’ to their communities and facilitates upward mobility,” the HUD IG said in a report made public Tuesday.
The facility is located in Nevada, Mo., which is a Kansas City exurb.
The IG said 33 of the 35 units it audited were improperly exempted by housing authorities from the work requirement.
The Missouri officials also failed to comply in 20 of the 35 units examined with a federal requirement that resident eligibility for public housing assistance be periodically re-certified.
Only residents ages 62 years or older, those who are blind or otherwise disabled, minors or employed can be exempted from the community service rule, the IG said.
The Missouri audit is part of a nationwide project by the HUD IG examining compliance with the community service work requirement by public housing authorities.
Go here to read the full report.
Mark Tapscott is executive editor of the Washington Examiner.
