HUD Counseling Funds Tripled Despite Criticism
by PubliusFrom USA Today:
WASHINGTON — Federal funding for a housing counseling program carried out by local non-profit groups such as ACORN has more than tripled since 2002, even though it has been criticized by government auditors for failing to show results.President Obama’s budget calls for a 54% increase next year — $100 million in all — for the program, which helps people buy or refinance a home, prevent a foreclosure or find rental housing. The Senate agreed, while the House of Representatives suggested $70 million; final negotiations over the bill are pending.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has been unable to provide much proof the program works, according to government reports, despite an increase in funding from $20 million in 2002 to $65 million last year.
The reports found:
• “At present there is limited evidence of the benefits of counseling in making homeownership more sustainable,” according to a HUD-commissioned study in 2008 by consulting firm Abt Associates. Abt found that 23% of those completing foreclosure-prevention counseling in 2007 managed to stay in their homes.
• HUD’s inspector general warned in 2006 that the department inadequately supervised counseling agencies and failed to sufficiently measure results. “Despite not meeting its expectations, HUD continued to propose increases in funding,” the report said. HUD has improved training and performance reviews for the program and soon will release a new housing counseling handbook, department spokeswoman Andrea Mead said in an e-mail.
• Earlier this year, non-partisan congressional investigators at the Government Accountability Office reviewed consumer protections for elderly homeowners seeking reverse mortgages. The undercover probe found that none of 15 HUD-funded counselors provided all of the required information. HUD Assistant Secretary David Stevens responded in a letter that the department was making improvements including hiring “mystery shoppers” to test reverse mortgage counseling and report back to counselors’ supervisors.
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19 Comments
The federal government is beyond out of control. I really hope America is starting to wake up. WE'RE OUT OF MONEY!!!!!!!
Rathke should be responsible for all the fraud and corruption that Acorn has committed. When is this guy starts to be subpoena?
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by SavageNews and Michael Chavez, Big Government. Big Government said: HUD Counseling Funds Tripled Despite Criticism: From USA Today: WASHINGTON — Federal funding for a housing cou.. http://bit.ly/iXBZb [...]
Liberal Thinking 101:
If it is not working, throw more money at it.
Repeat until successful results are obtained.
If it has not yielded good results, it was obviously underfunded. Go back to Step 1.
Additional: If it yields results deemed good but not the ones stated as intended, increase funding for more good results. This includes employment and support of government workers, union members, and community organizers.
Imagine that?
Federal Funding and Government Programs running amok, with no accountability and zero oversight. And they want to take over Healthcare…………
They don't see results because the money is going to stuff the ballot boxes during an election year. It costs money to round up the great unwashed and bus them to the polls. The dead are especially uncooperative.
Rathke might be subpoenaed when the Dims are no longer in office. Holder is too busy defending terrorists right now.
Acorn supporters constantly point to the "good" they do to assert they should not be investigated. So far they have pointed to activities such as protesting at a foreclosure auction in Los Angeles as evidence. They helped the lady keep her home, but a better qualified group wouldn't have let it go to auction in the first place. The record just doesn't justify millions of taxpayer dollars.
Isn't it safe to say that nothing the feds run is efficient and free of fraud or waste?! Comment above is correct – if it doesn't work, throw more money at it – that's the answer for all our problems. After all, it is not their money!!
A bit more from the linked article:
NeighborWorks America, a non-profit created by Congress to boost home ownership, is the largest recipient of HUD counseling funds. It has received $17.4 million in the past decade.
Officials from NeighborWorks and ACORN say they're confident the program is effective.
"We know it makes a difference. We know a well-informed consumer makes better choices," says Marietta Rodriguez of NeighborWorks. It's difficult to get complete information about results, she added, because "we're not always able to track everyone we touch."
Bruce Dorpalen, ACORN's housing counseling director, says that of more than 40,000 ACORN clients seeking help preventing a foreclosure in the past year, about 8,000 got favorable mortgage changes. He said 18,000 more are in the loan-modification process. "This is a success story that not enough people know about," he said.
Trying to prevent foreclosures would seem to be a good idea at the moment . What exactly is the conservative position on that? Do nothing and let the free market sort it out? I'm just asking , not being sarcastic.
The money achieved lots of results….DEMOCRATS GOT ELECTED! Oh, yeah, it was my money too…damn!
Its a perverse incentive, the worse they do the more money they get, just look at how the public schools operate. I told a public school teacher this, he said i was crazy, imagine that
Yes it's non free market injections that slow the market down in the first place.
How about this. Since HUD is such a beneficial resource for 8000 people this year and we should find any and all means to throw more money at this social injustice why stop there. How about we stop funding to other countries and divert it so that everyone in America owns a home, why stop at just 8000. If your heart is really in the right place you should be demanding that everyone in America is a home owner not just these unfortunate and blameless 8000. If we stopped every last cent of foreign assistance we could potentially make everyone a home owner in the US. Isn't that what we all aspire to, shouldn't everyone get it?
That's the problem with so many feel good arguments….where does it stop and does it actually work?
The answer is it doesn't work and left unchecked it can completely destroy the very society you're trying to help.
Read up on feel good environmental ideas and how it worked out historically for the animals of Yellow Stone. Yellow Stone is the best example of how good intentions work out in the long run. Or better yet and more simply put helping to pry open the cocoon of a butterfly doesn't work out so well for the butterfly in the long and or short run.
Where are the special prosecutors now? where is the phony outrage by the Democrats over the coruption that is ACORN and by association Obama and his administration? Where is the news media? We as a people have to stop this crap that these elitists think they can get away with. We need to put most of the politains in Jail and strip theri families of the illgotten gains. Just because they say it ok to steal and take bribes through campaign contributions and ear marks doesn't make it so! any supposed non-profit must file tax returns based on audited books, where are ACORNS books and tax returns? How about the three hundred other spin off groups that they use to hide the money being stolen for political purposes and personal greed. Stop funding these people and start putting them in jail. Start with tghe top people at ACORN and then offer special deals, slightly less time for infor on the politians. Same goes for Larasa or any other group that claims to be a non-profit but gets involved in politics. Wake Up America!
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