NECAC continues effort to cut housing fraud

The North East Community Action Corporation (NECAC) is working to crack down on fraud. Its particular target is the Section 8 housing choice voucher program.

NECAC’s efforts are in partnership with the federal government in order to crack down on fraud.

While rare, fraud does happen. Often, tenants hide assets or income or misrepresent who lives in the home.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its Office of Inspector General are committed to eliminating fraud, waste, and abuse in the program. The Section 8 program provides partial rent payments to income-qualifying people.

Landlords who participate in the program are also subject to fraud elimination guidelines.

“With the current affordable housing shortage, our waiting lists are long,” said NECAC Rental Assistance Programs Director Michelle Worthington. “Cheating the system will not be tolerated. People who defraud the Section 8 program are taking assistance away from waiting list applicants who are willing to participate in the program honestly.”

The law requires Section 8 clients to report all household income and changes in household composition. Failure to do so can result in termination from the program, repayment of overpaid subsidies, and, in some cases, federal criminal charges.

Public housing authorities such as NECAC are required to use HUD’s Enterprise Income Verification as a third-party source. This source double-checks employment and income data during annual examinations. The system puts together a variety of information. Housing authorities also get quarterly wage reports through computer matching agreements with state collection agencies. People who sign up for Section 8 authorize HUD and NECAC to pull this data.

NECAC urges people to report suspected housing fraud to the email [email protected]. All reports are investigated by the agency and are kept confidential.