Audit report to highlight home repair problems

Members of the Council Audit and Finance Committee are scheduled to hear a scathing draft report from the city auditor’s office this afternoon about the home repair program administered by the Neighborhood Housing and Community Development Department. Auditors found that between fiscal years 2015 and 2017, the department’s home repair programs ended each year with about $6 million in unspent funds. Over the same three years, auditors found, the department “frequently missed performance goals related to the number of homes repaired,” with most participants waiting for more than a year before their homes were repaired. As the Austin Monitor has previously reported, many participants in the program were not satisfied with the quality of the repairs made to their homes. One or more of those dissatisfied citizens plans to testify during today’s meeting. Several of those homeowners are still struggling in the wake of botched home repairs, according to an attorney who is helping them on a pro bono basis.