Kendall Murry
| WABE
June 2nd, 2026
Updated June 3, 2026,
11:01 AM EDT
A former senior vice president at the Atlanta Housing Authority has been sentenced to federal prison after her involvement in a yearslong housing assistance and pandemic relief fraud scheme.
Tracy Denise Jones, 61, was sentenced to nine months in prison on May 20, to be followed by nine months of home detention and 15 months of supervised release. She is also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $65,598.80 and a fine of $63,546.
“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 in a May 22 release. “Her theft of that money meant other members of the community went without much-needed relief. Our office will continue to vigorously act to hold people like Jones, who violate the public trust and pilfer from the treasury, accountable.”
Jones was named senior vice president over the Housing Choice Voucher Program at the Atlanta Housing Authority in April 2017.
Her position saw her overseeing one of the largest Section 8 programs in the country, which includes rental assistance payments to landlords on behalf of low-income families and individuals.
The funds are limited, with housing authority staff typically prohibited from receiving payments for their own properties, and Section 8 landlords typically prohibited from leasing to their own family members.
“Instead of upholding the integrity of the housing assistance program, Jones defrauded the program by using a series of falsified forms to have her family members admitted to the Section 8 program and then to receive Section 8 payments for them to live in her own rental house,” authorities wrote.
To protect her identity, the former executive used a fake name and a shell business entity to execute housing authority documents, resulting in the receipt of more than $36,000 in Section 8 funds. To obstruct subsequent investigations, she submitted a false affidavit and convinced friends to lie and present false documents to clear her of suspicion.
Around this same period, authorities say that Jones used her shell business and another business to collect more than $27,000 from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s COVID-19 pandemic relief programs.
When filing her applications, the disgraced housing representative falsely claimed that the businesses were operating with multiple employees and generated over $56,000 in gross revenue in 2019.
In addition, authorities state that Jones committed mortgage fraud when she refinanced her Section 8 rental property, falsely claiming in her loan application for $219,780 that the property was her main residence, that it was not a rental property and that she did not own any other property.
In a statement to WABE, Atlanta Housing Authority says that it is aware of Jones’ sentencing and that it respects the court’s decision.
“Atlanta Housing had policies and internal controls in place designed to safeguard public resources. During the legal proceedings, it was established that safeguards were deliberately circumvented by the individual involved,” the statement said. “Consistent with our policies and applicable law, Atlanta Housing took appropriate employment action and has continued to strengthen its oversight and compliance practices. Our focus remains on serving residents, protecting program integrity and maintaining public trust.”
Jones was arraigned on Dec. 19, 2025, and later pled guilty on Feb. 2 to conspiracy to commit theft of government funds, wire fraud and credit application fraud.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the amount of prison time that Jones was sentenced to in the headline. The headline has been updated to reflect that it is nine months.
