The D.C. Housing Authority’s former internal auditor resigned after she says she faced retaliation and intimidation from agency heads over an audit that found $1.3 million in wasted funds.
In deposition testimony, the former director of DCHA’s internal audit office, Joanne Wallington, says DCHA Director Tyrone Garrett, chief operating officer and head of human resources Natasha Campbell, and the agency’s general counsel Greg Mays attempted to intimidate her. She says Mays worked to find the identity of the complainant who first expressed concern—a DCHA board commissioner who requested anonymity.
In addition to wasted funds, the audit found that DCHA intentionally tried to avoid the board of commissioners’ approval of some contracts. One contract, for example, was signed for $249,900—a price $100 below the minimum amount that triggers board approval. DCHA also failed to disclose the audit to the D.C. Council, despite a specific request to do so. The agency has called the audit a “political hit job” and “unsubstantiated and erroneous.”