Response to the Audit
Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency
August 29, 2018
Ms. Elaine M. Howle
State Auditor
621 Capitol Mall, Suite 1200
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: Response to California State Auditor's Draft Report: California Department of Housing
and Community Development: Its Oversight of Housing Bond Funds Remains
Inconsistent
Dear Ms. Howle:
The Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSH) welcomes the opportunity respond to the California State Auditor's (CSA) draft report, titled "California Department of Housing and Community Development: Its Oversight of Housing Bond Funds Remains Inconsistent".
We concur with the recommendations and are pleased to report that the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) has already completed many of the recommended improvements and is currently implementing the others.
HCD has initiated key improvements efforts to ensure our Housing Bond Programs are appropriately and consistently monitored. These include hiring additional staff to make our monitoring efforts more robust and initiating ongoing onsite monitoring of the CalHOME program. In addition, we have made improvements to the Consolidated Automated Program Enterprise System (CAPES) and launched training programs to improve utilization of CAPES staff. Finally, we have increased our oversight of administrative fees expenditure by increasing the frequency of senior management review to result in more frequent identification of, and discussion about, at-risk programs.
We look forward to providing an update on progress made in our six-month progress report. By improving our oversight in these key areas, we will be better able to serve the public by providing leadership, policies, and programs to preserve and expand safe and affordable housing opportunities for all Californians.
If you have any questions, please contact Doug McCauley, HCD Chief Deputy Director at (916) 263-7400 or Doug.McCauley@hcd.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
Alexis A. Podesta
Secretary
Comment
CALIFORNIA STATE AUDITOR’S COMMENT ON THE RESPONSE FROM THE BUSINESS, CONSUMER SERVICES AND HOUSING AGENCY
We look forward to HCD's 60-day response to our audit report, which should include documentation demonstrating the actions it has taken in implementing our recommendations.