BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - A state audit finds public housing officials in St. John the Baptist Parish kept inadequate records on a myriad of federally required documents, including rental agreements, tenant background checks, Section 8 eligibility paperwork and annual inspections of apartment units.
The Advocate reports auditors also reported that some tenants skipped ahead of others on the agency's waiting list for housing, and they were unable to locate an inventory of equipment owned by the St. John Housing Authority nor confirm that one had been done.
Auditors sampled files for 23 public housing tenants and 21 who participated in the Section 8 voucher program, finding no background checks on file for any of them
Housing Authority officials pledged to "ensure that complete background checks will be provided on a timely basis" in the future.