US: Philly housing agency overpaid for shoddy work

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The latest audit of the troubled Philadelphia Housing Authority suggests the agency overpaid for shoddy work, prompting questions about its use of $127 million in federal stimulus funds.

The federal audit released today looks at renovation work done on 10 houses. U.S. auditors say Philadelphia managers produced virtually no receipts to show how nearly $1 million was spent on them.

John Buck, the Housing and Urban Development’s regional inspector general, says that raises question about how the agency spent all its 2009 stimulus money.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority is under HUD control amid the firing last year of director Carl Greene, who had been hit with several sexual-harassment lawsuits.

In a response included in the audit, the agency says it believes it has accounted for the federal grant money.