Board reviews audit finding SF Housing Authority troubled, residents detail repairs and wait-list failures

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ committee on June 25 heard a performance audit from the Budget & Legislative Analyst that found long-standing financial and management problems at the San Francisco Housing Authority (SFHA), while residents delivered more than two hours of public testimony cataloging maintenance failures, safety concerns and stale wait lists.

Severin Campbell of the Budget & Legislative Analyst Office introduced Amanda Guma, who summarized the audit’s main findings. The office concluded that HUD had designated SFHA a “troubled agency” in December 2012 and that weak internal financial controls and management practices had worsened the authority’s fiscal health. “Since 02/2009, the Housing Authority has not hired a Chief Financial Officer and has not developed a long term financial plan,” Guma said, and noted budget shortfalls of $4.0 million in 2011 and $2.6 million in 2012. The audit reported the authority faced a multi-million-dollar shortfall in 2013 and cited HUD’s projection that SFHA could run out of cash between May and July 2013.

Guma highlighted operational problems that contribute to the financial strain: governance lapses,…