Housing Works, Inc., Did Not Always Comply With Federal Requirements Related to Its Affordable Care Act-Funded Community Health Center Fund Grant

Housing Works, Inc., operating in Brooklyn, New York, did not comply with all applicable Federal requirements and grant terms related to its Affordable Care Act (ACA)-funded New Access Point grant. Specifically, a Housing Works subsidiary (1 of 14 subsidiary nonprofit organizations overseen by Housing Works) did not track and account for these ACA-funded New Access Point grant expenditures separately from other Federal and non-Federal operating expenses and did not reconcile actual grant expenditures to its approved budgeted amounts used to draw down Federal funds. The Housing Works subsidiary followed Federal procurement standards and claimed allowable New Access Point grant costs of $150,000 for the purchase of a mobile health unit. However, we could not determine whether the remaining $1.2 million in grant costs claimed by the Housing Works subsidiary were allowable.

We recommended that the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) require Housing Works to refund $1.2 million to the Federal Government or work with Housing Works to determine what portion of costs claimed to the ACA-funded New Access Point grant were allowable; and ensure that the Housing Works subsidiary maintains a financial management system that provides for the accurate, current, and complete disclosure of the financial results of each U.S. Department of Health and Human Services-sponsored project or program, including (1) tracking and accounting for grant expenditures separately from other operating expenditures and (2) a comparison of outlays with budget amounts for each award.

Housing Works disagreed with our finding regarding its allocation of personnel costs and agreed with our finding related to its financial management system and described actions it had taken to address the finding. HRSA concurred with our recommendations.