HUD's long-awaited report was given to Sanford Mayor Larry Dale after six weeks of investigating the housing group. Dale has given the authority's members until April 11 to respond to his termination notice to them. The mayor accused the board members of malfeasance in carrying out their duties.

HUD is ordering the authority to get prior approval on all expenditures not included in future annual budgets. The agency also wants a final say in the selection of a new executive director for the housing board.

Authority executive director Timothy Hudson, whose helter-skelter accounting methods triggered the HUD investigation, is resigning April 20.

HUD investigators initially found about $1 million in federal funds that Hudson could not account for. Hudson says he placed the money in two certificates of deposit at two local banks so the funds could earn interest and be used when they were needed.

HUD investigators say the money should have been used immediately to repair and renovate 180 of HUD's 450 apartments rented out to low-income families in Sanford, 30 miles north of Downtown Orlando.

Instead, some of the money was used for non-apartment items such as security investigations on persons who don't live in HUD-owned apartments, according to HUD's preliminary report.

Instant Insights /

HUD Places Housing Agency on Probation for Lax Controls

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