Federal Housing and Urban Development officials in April took control of about $6 million in low-income housing grant money that had been given to the Tulalip Tribes and said its housing authority had mismanaged some of the money.
In August, HUD officials imposed sanctions, including banning the Tulalips from using any of that money, except $745,846 allocated to maintain and repair existing homes.
Since then, the tribes have been working to resolve six problems identified by HUD.
* The tribes resolved one finding in April that they had failed to comply with environmental review procedures.
* They resolved a second finding in August, regarding failure to meet self-monitoring requirements.
The four remaining issues revolve around two things the tribes must do.
* The first is to submit a plan for financial management controls and procedures and have HUD approve it. The plan was submitted, but HUD recommended changes. A revised plan will be resubmitted within two weeks.
* The second is to complete required annual audits for 2001-04. In April, the Tulalip board discovered accounting hadn’t taken place, although housing authority staff had saved receipts and paperwork. Without accounting records, authorities couldn’t conduct required audits. Those records have been reconstructed, and the audits have begun.
The 2001 audit was just completed and will be turned over to HUD soon. The 2002 audit should be completed within six weeks. The remaining audits must be completed by May 31.
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