B&F fails to hear NHA audit bill
Navajo Times | Ravonelle Yazzie The Navajo Housing Authority development in Pigeon Springs, New Mexico is seen Wednesday. The next development in the area may be built by a different housing agency, if Navajo Nation Council Delegate Jonathan Hale has his way. Hale wants to designate another entity to receive grant funds, as he says NHA has not built houses in years and is in danger of having to return money to the federal government.
WINDOW ROCK
For the second consecutive time the Navajo Nation Budget and Finance Committee did not second a motion that would open the floor up for discussion to approve a bill, that if passed would give a directive to Speaker LoRenzo Bates to request a complete audit of the Navajo Housing Authority.
No second to the motion was made during a Sept. 14 regular Budget and Finance meeting and again on Sept. 21, during a meeting held in Mariano Lake Chapter House.
At both meetings, the bill’s sponsor, Council Delegate Jonathan Perry (Becenti/Lake Valley/Nahodishgish/StandingRock/Whiterock/Huerfano/Nageezi/Crownpoint) was not able to attend, leaving it up to co-sponsor and Vice Chairman of Budget and Finance Dwight Witherspoon to try to open up a dialogue about the financially secretive enterprise.
The legislation states the Navajo Nation finds it is in the best interest of the Navajo people to request a complete audit of the Navajo Nation. This would identify key financial issues within the operation of NHA.
Since the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s recent decision to recapture $96 million from Navajo Housing Authority, the enterprise has been under constant scrutiny by both the feds and the tribe. HUD has alleged NHA is not complying with Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act requirements because it expended only $66 million of the $215 million budgeted in its 2012 Indian Housing Plan.
In a letter responding to the audit legislation, NHA CEO Aneva J Yazzie said the entity is already required to undergo an annual independent audit at a cost of $65,000. The audits are sent to HUD and the Federal Clearinghouse for Audits. Also, HUD’s Office of the Inspector General conducts random audits on NHA.
With this many audits, Yazzie explained, there is no reason for the Navajo Nation Auditor General’s office or any other Navajo Nation office to conduct its own audit. She also wrote that the entity’s audit is open for the public to view.
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