Atlanta, Georgia – A former top official at the Atlanta Housing Authority will spend time in prison after federal prosecutors said she turned programs meant for low-income families and pandemic-hit businesses into a source of personal gain.
According to the Department of Justice, Tracy Denise Jones, 61, of Atlanta, was sentenced on May 20, 2026, to nine months in prison, followed by nine months of home detention and 15 months of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay $65,598.80 in restitution and a $63,546 fine. Jones pleaded guilty on February 2, 2026, to conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, wire fraud, and credit application fraud.
For years, Jones held a powerful role inside the Atlanta Housing Authority. From April 2017 until her guilty plea, she served as Senior Vice President over the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which oversees Section 8 rental assistance. The program, funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, helps low-income families and individuals pay rent. Because those funds are limited, applicants often face long waiting lists.
Federal prosecutors said Jones ignored those rules while managing one of the country’s largest Section 8 programs. Housing authority employees are generally barred from receiving Section 8 payments for their own properties, and landlords usually cannot lease to their own family members through the program. Still, prosecutors said Jones used falsified forms to get family members approved for housing assistance and then collected payments for them to live in her own rental home.
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To hide her role, Jones used a fake name and a shell business entity on housing authority paperwork. The scheme brought her more than $36,000 in improper Section 8 payments. Prosecutors also said she later tried to block investigations by filing a false affidavit and persuading friends to lie and submit false documents for her.
“Jones violated the trust of the community, the taxpayers, and the needy families she was supposed to assist, using her senior position at one of the largest housing authorities to steal limited public funds,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.
The fraud did not stop there. Jones also used two businesses to collect more than $27,000 from U.S. Small Business Administration COVID-19 relief programs. Prosecutors said she falsely claimed the businesses were active, had multiple employees, and generated more than $56,000 in 2019 revenue. After one application was denied, she appealed, claiming, “I am truly a[n] honest business owner[.]”
Jones also committed mortgage fraud by falsely stating, while refinancing her rental property through a $219,780 loan, that it was her primary residence and not a rental.
The case was investigated by HUD’s Office of Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Garrett L. Bradford. More information about the Justice Department’s pandemic fraud response is available at https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
