Josh Christenson writes for the New York Post about a disturbing new report.
A US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report found more than $5 billion in taxpayer funds went to “questionable” rental assistance recipients during the final year of the Biden administration — including to around 30,000 “deceased tenants” and “thousands” of potential non-citizens, The Post can reveal.
HUD officials said a “large concentration” of the suspicious payments went to New York, California and Washington, DC, with dead recipients getting at least some funds in all 50 states — in what federal officials are calling widespread abuse of taxpayers’ dollars under the Biden administration.
“A massive abuse of taxpayer dollars not only occurred under President Biden’s watch, but was effectively incentivized by his administration’s failure to implement strong financial controls resulting in billions worth of potential improper payments,” HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement.
“HUD will continue investigating the shocking results and will take appropriate action to hold bad actors accountable. Additionally, the Department is advancing efforts made under President Trump’s first administration to strengthen program integrity and ensure taxpayer-funded assistance serves the vulnerable communities it was intended for.”
HUD’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFC) uncovered $5.8 billion of the “questionable” payments out of nearly $50 billion in total federal rental assistance to public housing authorities, contractors, landlords and other non-federal entities in fiscal year 2024, the 183-page report disclosed.
The around 11% of taxpayer dollars from HUD went to more than 200,000 possibly ineligible tenants — of which 29,715 were dead, 9,472 were non-citizens and 165,393 were receiving sums that exceeded the threshold for assistance in their geographic region, particularly in New Orleans and other large metro areas.
The HUD programs are designed to help low-income residents who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford shelter — and the possible grift means those truly in need could have been left out in the cold.
HUD officials faulted the Biden administration for a directive “to push funding out the door with minimal oversight” as well as rent assistance programs placing “substantial trust and responsibility in these non-federal entities … to accurately assess tenant eligibility.”
