Program Integrity

The Housing Authority of the City of San Luis Obispo ("HASLO") is committed to program integrity. In 1981, the position of Program Integrity Specialist was created to support this mission. HASLO was one of the first in the country to take a proactive step in setting up a Program Integrity unit. The Program Integrity specialist coordinates all the fraud investigations for the agency and is a fully accredited Peace Officer, as allowed under California Penal Code 830.31.

Funding for both the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher and Public Housing program's, from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, mandates monitoring and enforcing of Federal Regulations. This is to ensure that the assistance being provided is only received by those who are eligible under HUD Standards, which includes ongoing program compliance. This includes items such as failure to report income, unauthorized persons living in the home and criminal activity related to violence or drugs.

HASLO is very proactive in efforts to investigate cases of alleged fraud. This may include recovery of assistance that was paid during the period of time fraud was occurring and may also include filing of Felony Fraud charges, in addition to the household potentially losing their assistance.

Failure of persons to abide by the program rules jeopardizes the integrity of the program, but also hinders the ability of other persons in need from obtaining assistance. There are many truly deserving individuals and families that could utilize the program assistance and will abide by the program regulations.

Thus, it is especially important that anyone suspecting fraudulent activity, report that activity to the Investigation Unit. This can be done anonymously. However, it is often preferred that the Investigator at least be able to contact you, in case of further questions. Most of the time it is not necessary to indicate where the referral was received from, as the Investigator must obtain enough substantiated documentation to proceed with termination, recovery and/or charges.

If you have any questions or suspect fraudulent, drug or criminal activity in a home that is assisted by the Section 8 Voucher program or owned by HASLO, please call 594-5320. You may also access and complete the "Investigation Referral" form on this site and return it to 487 Leff Street, San Luis Obispo in person or mail it to the address below. Please provide as much information as possible, which assists in expediting the investigation. Again, it can be done anonymously, or you can indicate if the investigator can contact you with questions only.