New York, NY – August 13, 2009 – (RealEstateRama) — New York City Comptroller William C. Thompson, Jr. today released an audit finding that the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD) does not adequately monitor its Transitional Independent Living vendors to ensure that the City is providing the necessary services to older homeless youth.
“Homeless youth aging into adulthood need ample support, shelter, and services to achieve stability and financial independence,” Thompson said. “The Department of Youth and Community Development should be taking the necessary steps to ensure that the vendors who provide these services are doing the best possible job.”
The audit – which can be viewed at www.comptroller.nyc.gov – criticized DYCD for its limited evidence of monitoring of vendors and failure to maintain an accurate list of all TIL clients. It also highlighted that unsanitary and unsafe conditions were found at some TIL facilities during unannounced visits.
“We observed serious unsanitary and unsafe conditions at several facilities, including rodent droppings, mold, peeling paint. We also observed a lack of child-safety window guards in apartments where older youths were living with their children,” Thompson said. “This is completely unacceptable. And when we compared our findings to agency findings during their site visits to these facilities, DYCD gave no indications of unsanitary or unsafe conditions at these sites.”
He added, “To ensure that the vendors maintain healthy and safe residences, DYCD should consider increasing the number of unannounced reviews it conducts at all TIL facilities. The agency also needs to make certain that any negative conditions it discovers are corrected in a timely manner.”
DYCD supports youth and adults through contracts with community based organizations (CBOs) throughout New York City. The agency’s goals are to promote and support the development of healthy, educated youths who are involved in their communities, to prepare youths for economic independence, and to strengthen and revitalize the City’s communities. Included in these responsibilities are DYCD’s efforts to assist the City’s runaway and homeless youth.
DYCD’s Division of Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) Services provides funding to CBOs to operate runaway and homeless services programs for youths under the age of 21. These programs offer youths alternatives to living in the streets by placing them in a safe environment or endeavoring to achieve family reunification. Program models include non-residential programs, crisis shelters, and transitional independent living shelters.
In Fiscal Year 2008, DYCD’s Transitional Independent Living (TIL) program provided homeless youth with support and shelter services at nine locations through DYCD contracts with six CBOs. All TIL programs are open 24 hours a day, 365 days per year.
In Fiscal Year 2008, DYCD’s funding for the TIL program was $5,168,505. This amount supported 122 beds, with an allowable funding per bed ranging from $34,182 to $63,685 per year. DYCD paid TIL providers on a cost-reimbursement basis in accordance with a line-item budget approved by DYCD. According to the Fiscal Year 2008 RHY Statistical Data Report on TIL programs, TIL contractors provided direct services to 244 youths.
Thompson’s audit found that DYCD has limited evidence that it adequately monitors its TIL vendors. As a result, the agency is hindered in ensuring that conditions requiring attention are identified and properly addressed.
DYCD contract managers conduct regular site visits to all TIL programs. Of the 47 site visits DYCD conducted in Fiscal Year 2008, 36 were primarily monitoring visits with the purpose of performing programmatic, administrative, and physical environment reviews of TIL vendors.
“We found that 26 – or 72 percent – of the 36 monitoring reports provided little or no explanation or documentation on the work that was done in one or more review areas,” Thompson said. “Without an adequate description of the review or an evaluation of the review results, DYCD does not offer an assurance as to the accuracy and completeness of its site visit and assessment.”
The audit also established that DYCD does not maintain an accurate list of clients enrolled in the TIL program. DYCD provided auditors with a list of 204 youths and their children who were involved in the TIL program in Fiscal Year 2008. This was less than the 244 clients reported in the Fiscal Year 2008 RHY Statistical Data Report on TIL programs.
Furthermore, when auditors compared this lists to the vendors’ lists of enrolled youths, they found discrepancies. The vendors reported serving 228 youths and their children; however, 49 of those youths were not on DYCD’s lists. Conversely, 25 youths on the DYCD lists were not on the vendors’ lists.
“Without an accurate list of clients, DYCD and its vendors cannot adequately track and monitor the status of all clients involved in the program,” Thompson said. “It is imperative that these youths and their children do not slip through the cracks. The City needs to be doing everything in its power to track these youths and ensure that they are receiving these vital support services.”
Although Thompson’s audit found evidence that DYCD’s monitoring of TIL vendors was lacking, the vendors reviewed in the audit generally met the terms of their contracts.
As a result of the audit Thompson made several recommendations, including that DYCD:
- Improve its monitoring of TIL vendors by preparing site-visit reports that provide a detailed account of what the contract manager reviewed, a detailed listing of findings, and a corresponding set of recommendations. Such site-visit reports should also require TIL vendors to prepare corrective action plans to address these findings.
- Conduct follow-up visits when deficiencies are identified to ensure that they are corrected.
- Implement stronger controls (e.g., increase the number of unannounced visits) to ensure that TIL vendors consistently provide clean and safe environments at their facilities.
- Include performance-based measures in future TIL vendor contracts as incentives to encourage vendors to improve their services.
- Include provisions in future contracts that assess some penalties on TIL vendors that provide poor or sub-par services.
In its response, DYCD generally agreed with seven recommendations, disagreed with two, and did not respond to one.
