Where Did the Homelessness Money Go? HUD Secretary Scott Turner Demands Accountability

 

Trump admin moves to crack down on illegal migrants living in public housing: ‘wasteful misappropriation’ of taxpayer money

By Victor Nava

Published March 24, 2025, 8:08 p.m. ET

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner announced Monday that their agencies will work together to prevent illegal migrants from living in public housing.

The Trump administration aims to end the “wasteful misappropriation” of taxpayer money going to subsidize housing for illegal migrants by having DHS “identify illegal aliens who are ineligible for Federal housing assistance” to HUD, according to the new memorandum of understanding between the two agencies.

“American tax dollars should be used for the benefit of American citizens, especially when it comes to an issue as pressing as our nation’s housing crisis,” Turner said in a statement. “This new agreement will leverage resources including technology and personnel to ensure American people are the only priority when it comes to public housing.”

“We will continue to work closely with DHS to maximize our resources and put American citizens first.”

HUD Secretary Scott Turner and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem signed the agreement on Monday.X / @SecretaryTurner

The MOU indicates that “veterans in need” stand to benefit from the cooperation agreement, which will facilitate “data sharing” between HUD and DHS.

“The Biden Administration prioritized illegal aliens over our own citizens, including by giving illegal aliens taxpayer-funding housing at the expense of Americans. Not anymore,” Noem said in a statement. “The entire government will work together to identify abuse and exploitation of public benefits and make sure those in this country illegally are not receiving federal benefits or other financial incentives to stay illegally.”

“If you are an illegal immigrant, you should leave now,” the DHS chief added. “The gravy train is over.”

HUD cited data from the Center for Immigration Studies showing that about 59% of illegal migrant households benefit from at least one government welfare program, creating roughly $42 billion in costs.

 

HUD cited data showing that 59% of illegal migrant households benefit from taxpayer-funded programs.Stephen Yang

The move is part of the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.James Keivom

The agency said there are at least 9 million residents of public and subsidized housing “without proper information sharing to determine eligibility status.”

In addition to signing the MOU, Turner also instructed the offices of Public and Indian Housing (PIH), Moving to Work (MTW) and Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) to comply with federal laws that already prohibit HUD-funded service providers from providing financial assistance to illegal migrants.

Source

HUD's Ben Carson broke law with furniture order, GAO says

Housing and Urban Development spokespeople offered conflicting accounts of what Secretary Ben Carson knew about the furniture order. | Alex Wong/Getty Images



By KATY O'DONNELL

05/16/2019 06:50 PM EDT


Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson broke the law when he failed to report an order for a $31,561 dining room table set for his office as well as the installation of an $8,000 dishwasher in the office kitchen, the Government Accountability Office found in a report published Thursday.

Agencies are required to notify Congress of expenditures over $5,000 to furnish an executive's office.

Carson canceled the table order after it surfaced in news reports in early 2018, and he appeared to blame the fiasco on his wife, Candy, in congressional testimony. HUD spokespeople offered conflicting accounts of what Carson knew about the order.

Congressional appropriators requested the GAO investigation.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations subcommittee in charge of HUD, called the debacle "another example of the Trump administration trying to cast aside the law if it doesn't suit them."

"I am also disturbed by the pattern of false statements and attempts to conceal this incident, mislead the public, and prevent Congress and the American people from seeing how taxpayer dollars are being mismanaged," Reed said in an e-mailed statement.

HUD officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Source

Ben Carson On His Life Story Is Informing His Work At HUD

Ben Carson: We won’t allow forgotten Americans to be left behind

Ben Carson: We won’t allow forgotten Americans to be left behind. Here’s how.

By Ben Carson

December 14, 2018 at 7:06 PM

A derelict building stanin the East Harlem neighborhood of New York. (Allison Joyce/Bloomberg)

Ben Carson is the U.S. secretary of housing and urban development.

The nation’s unemployment rate is at a 49-year low, wages are on the rise, and last year, the official poverty rate fell from 12.7 percent to 12.3 percent, with even larger decreases and record lows for Hispanic Americans and African Americans. While all these indicators are great news, not everyone is benefiting from the improved economy.

Investment in many places in this country has lagged for generations. A mere 20 counties accounted for half the national increase in businesses from 2010 to 2014. Meanwhile, small counties (fewer than 100,000 residents) accounted for only 9 percent of all job growth between 2010 and 2014. Small wonder that frustration is running high among those who feel they have been left behind.

During his inaugural address, President Trump declared that “the forgotten men and women of our country will be forgotten no longer.” It is critical that we deliver on this promise and ensure the gains of the past two years reach everyAmerican.

Last December, Republicans passed the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which included a powerful new incentive promoting private investment in distressed communities designated as opportunity zones. Building on this success, the president established the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council this past week. I am very proud to chair this council, which consists of members across 13 agencies whose mission it is to jump-start the development of distressed urban and rural communities by streamlining, coordinating and targeting public revitalization programs.

Do Ben Carson’s Son And Wife Work For HUD, Too?

Opinion

ROBYN BECK
BY PARKER RILEY
23 HOURS AGO


As we all know, Ben Carson, who is a former neurosurgeon, is the unqualified secretary of HUD (Housing and Urban Development). Carson has been protested for being terrible at his job and he is even attempting to take away fair housing from low-income people.

However, Carson tainting HUD doesn’t just end with him. Candy Carson, his wife, and his son, Ben Carson Jr., has had some questionable involvement at HUD, according to Mother Jones. “With anything where we can be helpful, if Dad asks us to come along and help out, we’ll always do that,” Ben Jr. said in August after being asked about his role. “We’re here to offer support, whatever we can do.”

Come along and help out? Did you “come along and help out” when he was performing brain surgery? Sounds like serious nepotism.

CREW (Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington), a watchdog group, demanded further details under the Freedom of Information Act, but the request was shut down, according to a report published by the Freedom From Religious Foundation (FFRF) on Thursday.

US housing program squanders millions

Washington Post / May 16, 2011

WASHINGTON — The federal government’s largest housing construction program for the poor has squandered hundreds of millions of dollars on stalled or abandoned projects and routinely failed to crack down on delinquent developers or the local housing agencies that funded them.


Nationwide, nearly 700 projects that were awarded $400 million have been idling for years, a Washington Post investigation found. Some have languished for a decade or longer, even as much of the country struggles with record-high foreclosures and a dramatic loss of affordable housing.


The Department of Housing and Urban Development, which oversees the nation’s housing fund, does not track the pace of construction and often fails to spot defunct deals, instead trusting local agencies to police projects.


The result is a trail of failed developments. Fields where apartment complexes were promised are empty and neglected. Houses that were supposed to be renovated are boarded up and crumbling.


A yearlong Post investigation uncovered a dysfunctional system that delivers billions of dollars to local housing agencies with few rules, safeguards, or even a reliable way to track projects. The lapses have led to widespread misspending and delays in a two-decade-old program meant to deliver decent housing to the working poor.


The Post found breakdowns at every level:


■ Local housing agencies have awarded millions to troubled developers, including novice builders, fledgling nonprofits, and groups accused of fraud or shoddy work.


■ Checks were cut even when projects were still on the drawing boards, without land, financing, or permits to move forward. In at least 55 cases, developers drew HUD money but left behind only barren lots.


■ Over all, nearly one in seven projects shows signs of significant delay. Time and again, housing agencies failed to cancel bad deals or alert HUD when projects foundered.


Source: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2011/05/16/us_housing_program_squanders_millions/
.

After Census Severs Ties, ACORN May Face Scrutiny of Housing Grants

ACORN Housing Corporation received $1.6 million in federal money to provide housing services to low-income communities in this fiscal year

FOXNews.com
Saturday, September 12, 2009

Conservatives have cheered the Census Bureau's decision to sever ties with ACORN because it had lost confidence in the group, but the hidden-camera videos that prompted ACORN to fire four workers this week could raise more questions about the federal funding ACORN receives for housing outreach.

ACORN Housing Corporation received $1.6 million to provide housing services to low-income communities in this fiscal year, ending Sept. 30, according to USASpending.gov, a federal government Web site for tracking government grants.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development Grants has given $8.2 million to ACORN in the years between 2003 and 2006, as well as $1.6million to ACORN affiliates.

HUD could not be reached for comment.

The hidden-camera videos, released this week, showed workers in two separate ACORN housing offices apparently helping a couple posing as a pimp and prostitute evade the IRS and apply for an illegal housing loan for a brothel. A 25-year-old independent filmmaker, James O'Keefe, posed as the pimp in the undercover expose, which was conceived by a friend, 20-year-old Hannah Giles, who posed as a prostitute.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the offices shown in the videos had received any of ACORN's federal grant money for housing services.

The Census Bureau notified ACORN on Friday in a letter that it is severing all ties with the group for all work having to do with the 2010 census.

"Over the last several months, through ongoing communication with our regional offices, it is clear that ACORN's affiliation with the 2010 Census promotion has caused sufficient concern in the general public, has indeed become a distraction from our mission, and may even become a discouragement to public cooperation, negatively impacting 2010 Census efforts," read a letter from Census Director Robert M. Groves to the president of ACORN.

"Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence that our national partnership agreement is being effectively managed through your many local offices. For the reasons stated, we therefore have decided to terminate the partnership," the letter said.

ACORN responded Saturday by blaming FOX News and conservatives for fueling the controversy.

"By its actions, Fox is not a news outlet but rather an advocacy organization for rightwing interests that seek to defeat healthcare reform and stymie solutions to the foreclosure crisis," the group said in a statement to FOXNews.com. "That said, with regard to the Census, ACORN has always said it would encourage full participation in the decennial count, and we will continue to do so."

ACORN chief organizer Bertha Lewis claimed that the videos capturing her former workers were "doctored, edited, and in no way the result of the fabricated story being portrayed by conservative activist 'filmmaker' O'Keefe and his partner in crime."

Lewis said ACORN will take legal action against FOX News and those involved in the making for the videos. ACORN offices in San Diego, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, among other places, were also targeted, she said.

"I am appalled and angry; I cannot and I will not defend the actions of the workers depicted in the video, who have since been terminated," she said.

Source: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/12/census-victory-conservatives-target-hud-funds-acorn/

.