Housing Non-Profit Fraud! Say It Isn’t So!
Posted August 12th, 2008 at 11:43am in Ongoing Priorities 
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Throughout the entire housing bail out debate conservatives repeatedly warned Congress not to include the creation of a $4 billion National Housing Trust Fund in the final legislative package. They didn’t listen. Now corrupt, fraudulent and partisan groups like ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) have a permanent source of federal funds. Don’t believe that all non-profits are as bad as ACORN? Then read today’s New York Times:
Federal investigators on Monday raided the downtown offices of a city-chartered nonprofit agency accused of abusing a federally financed program that was created to clean up houses damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
The agents carted large boxes of files away from the agency, which had been hired by the city to run the $3.6 million program.
The program was intended to help elderly and poor New Orleans residents gut and board up their storm-damaged houses, and to mow their lawns.
Instead, as a series of news reports by WWL-TV and the New Orleans daily, The Times-Picayune, have revealed, money appears to have gone to politically connected contractors who did little or no work on the houses. In some instances, the contractors were paid even when it was volunteers who did the gutting work, according to the reports.
Fraud and corruption all in favor of politically connected contractors and at the expense of federal taxpayers. This is exactly what conservatives warned would happen, and is exactly what is going to happen nationwide thanks to liberals like Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) and Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT).
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