Chapter XXIX: Fraud

Section E: Scope of Investigations

MSHDA employs a variety of techniques to detect errors, program abuses and fraud such as file audits, compliance reviews, quality control inspections, etc. When these methods identify a problem, a referral is made to the Compliance Enforcement Unit who will conduct an investigation to determine whether a program abuse and/or fraud is evident and what corrective measures need to be taken such as repayment of HAP, contract termination, etc.

HCV Program staff and Contracted Housing Agents primarily utilize a variety of resources to determine that data supplied by Program applicants and participants is authentic, specifically the review of data contained in various public and private databases including:

  • HUD’s Enterprise Income Verification (EIV) System which provides information from State wage reporting systems, multi-subsidy data, deceased tenant reports, and other data;
  • The Work Number and other third party verification sources to identify earnings;
  • Data Share provided by the Michigan Department of Human Services via a reciprocal agreement which shows TANF, Food Stamps, Medicaid, and Child Care benefits;
  • The Internet Criminal History Tool (ICHAT) provided by the Michigan Department of State Police;
  • The Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry (PSOR) provided by the Michigan Department of State Police;
  • The Offender Tracking Information System (OTIS) provided by the Michigan Department of Corrections;
  • Unemployment Insurance information.

The Compliance Enforcement Unit of the MSHDA OHVP utilizes all of the above in their investigations and many additional sources, which include, but are not limited to:

  • Register of Deeds documents provided by a variety of municipal sources;
  • Student enrollment and degree verify provided by the National Student Clearinghouse;
  • Utility records;
  • A variety of database resources including Lexis Nexis, AutoTrax, etc.;
  • State of Michigan tax returns provided by the State Department of Treasury through a reciprocal Agreement;
  • Pacer Service for U.S. Court records.
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