Norfolk housing authority earns high grade from HUD

NORFOLK 

The city’s housing authority has improved its Section 8 housing voucher program, earning a high grade from federal officials during a recent audit. 

The housing authority received a 99 percent rating from the department of Housing and Urban Development in this year’s review of its Section 8 program management. That score qualified it as a “high performer” in administering the program, which provides rental assistance to low-income families.

Norfolk serves roughly 2,500 families with housing vouchers, and plans to increase the program by about 250 recipients in the upcoming year, said Donnell Brown, the authority’s assistant executive director for housing operations.

In 2006, the program was deemed as “troubled” during the annual audit, mostly because of record-keeping issues, executive director Shurl Montgomery said.

“The staff’s done a tremendous job over the last two years pulling us back up,” he said.