Sen. Chuck Grassley today released a response from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to his letter, with Sen. Mark Kirk, on the department’s oversight of billions of dollars of federal Moving to Work program funds given to local housing authorities in Chicago and elsewhere across the country. Grassley is concerned that HUD appears to be rushing to extend new Moving to Work contracts well before the existing contracts expire and that HUD is performing inadequate oversight of how housing authorities spend these program funds. The Chicago Housing Authority, for example, has stockpiled Moving to Work funds while people in need of affordable housing remain on long waiting lists. Grassley has placed a hold on the nominee for HUD Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing, the office with jurisdiction over the Moving to Work program, out of his concerns. Grassley wants to ensure that the Moving to Work program works as intended before extending it another ten years.
Grassley made the following comment on HUD’s response:
“HUD has a pattern of conducting too little oversight of federal funds until it’s too late, and the damage has been done. The latest response doesn’t give me confidence that HUD is performing enough oversight of Moving to Work dollars. It’s true that this program was meant to provide housing authorities with more flexibility than under other federal housing programs, but flexibility doesn’t mean a free pass from checks and balances. The buck still starts and stops with the agency writing the checks. HUD is ultimately responsible for making sure people in need receive the safe, affordable housing intended with federal funding, in Chicago and elsewhere around the country.”
The Grassley-Kirk letter to HUD is available here.
HUD’s response is available here.
Grassley’s statement on the nomination hold is available here.
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