South Gate : Federal Money Returned In Wake of Investigation

After an investigation that turned up record-keeping errors, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has returned $575,000 to the city for a 1984-85 housing rehabilitation program.

Herbert Roberts, a HUD divisional director in Los Angeles, said last week that the city’s program is “basically back on track.” He praised city officials for reacting “forthrightly and diligently to answer all our concerns.”

The city voluntarily suspended the program and returned the money in March after the errors were disclosed by HUD officials. The mistakes were described by Roberts as negligence rather than fraud, and resulted in the city refunding $30,741 to the federal government for housing rehabilitation work done under the local program that could not be documented to the government’s satisfaction, Roberts said.

Mark Sutton, the city’s director of buildings, said the city has a waiting list of about 200 persons and that officials plan to restart the program later this year.