with U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley
Q: What have you learned through your oversight of federal housing programs?
A: The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) works with state and local leaders across the country to address homelessness and foster vibrant neighborhoods and communities. Like many challenges facing society, chronic homelessness is easier to identify than solve. In addition to providing safe, affordable housing to those most in need, policymakers know that homeownership is a pinnacle achievement for millions of hard-working Americans that can help promote stability, pride and public safety in our communities.
As with all taxpayer-financed programs administered by the vast federal bureaucracy, HUD’s fiscal stewardship merits congressional scrutiny. From what I’ve learned through consistent congressional oversight is that HUD programs are not immune to fraud, and the federal agency has been lax in its oversight of where federal dollars flow. The temptation of bad actor housing authorities at the local level to skim off the top is a pervasive reality that too often undermines the mission of federal spending. Executive directors from a number of public housing authorities across the country apparently view federal funding as their personal cash cow. Instead of using scarce resources to improve public housing, increase the number of housing vouchers and reduce waiting lists, federal housing dollars are being spent on high salaries, take-home vehicles, housing allowances and other perks. Most recently, I raised concerns about the estimated $353 million that housing authorities receive from the federal government for operating funds. Once money is transferred to a housing authority’s business account, no matter the funding source, the money is no longer considered federal funds. Without this federal designation, a housing authority’s use of operating funds is no longer transparent to the public. Removing the federal designation removes transparency and prevents HUD from meaningful oversight of public tax dollars. Many housing authorities are using this money to pay salaries that exceed the federal salary cap. That’s why dogged congressional oversight, whistleblower protections, internal audits by inspectors general and work by investigative journalists are critical to exposing corruption, mismanagement and fraud. The taxpaying public needs a robust system of checks and balances to clean up wrongdoing.
Q: What steps are you taking to rinse the system of wrongdoing?
A: Misconduct, mismanagement and misspending that takes place in the federal bureaucracy, including HUD, is a breach of trust with members of the taxpaying public. For the last few years, I have raised concerns about HUD’s poor standards of oversight and accountability. From Georgia, to Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas, I have found that tax dollars allocated to help house the poor and homeless were being diverted to fringe benefits for bureaucrats, such as cars, travel, vacations and cashing out unpaid sick leave. Incredibly, reports of questionable spending are still brewing. This tells me that HUD is disregarding the value of hard-earned tax dollars and shirking good governance and fiscal stewardship. As the administration calls for ways to address income inequality, surely HUD officials ought to prioritize that federal housing dollars are being spent on the poor and homeless. Recently I raised new concerns about potential conflicts of interest within HUD. Specifically, the HUD Inspector General found that the Deputy Director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, a lobbying organization, served simultaneously as a HUD Deputy Assistant Secretary. While on HUD’s payroll, this person actively took steps to weaken federal regulations governing public housing authorities, according to the inspector general. Despite this and other red flags, HUD has not implemented higher standards of oversight, limits and controls. Let’s not forget that HUD hands out four billion tax dollars every year to local housing authorities. That’s just four billion reasons why I will continue to press HUD to clean up its act.