While President Barack Obama threatens the elderly with interruption of receiving Social Security checks in August due to the debt ceiling issue, his administration is giving taxpayer's money to groups such as the corrupt ACORN and racist La Raza.
Congress passed a law -- Defund ACORN Act -- in 2009 to stop the huge flow of taxpayer money that annually went to ACORN after a series of exposés about the left-wing group’s illegal activities.
Judicial Watch has been a leader in investigating ACORN by requesting public records and taking legal action to uncover details of its fraudulent voter registration drives, involvement in the housing market meltdown and its close ties to President Obama. In addition, young journalists Hannah Giles (daughter of talk show star Doug Giles) and James O'Keefe conducted an undercover operation that videotaped ACORN workers involved in unethical, even illegal, behavior.
This week a JW probe uncovered that Obama’s Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently awarded a $79,819 grant to an ACORN reincarnation called Affordable Housing Centers of America (AHCOA). Incredibly, the government’s federal expenditure website openly describes the recipient as ACORN Housing Corporation Inc. and lists the group’s New Orleans address at 1024 Elysian Fields.
The HUD announced award is more discreet, however. It lists the recipient of the $79,819 grant as Florida-based Affordable Housing Centers of America, even though it’s the same ACORN offshoot. In all, HUD awarded 108 “fair housing organizations” more than $40 million to educate the public and combat discrimination. The allocation represents a $13.2 million increase over last year’s allotment to end housing discrimination against minorities.
In addition to disregarding the ACORN funding ban, the grant is astounding because federal investigators have previously exposed fraud by the same ACORN/AHCOA affiliate. Last fall an audit by HUD’s inspector general found that it “inappropriately” spent more than $3.2 million in grants that were supposed to be used to eliminate lead poisoning in its housing program.
A separate investigation, also conducted by HUD’s Inspector General, determined that ACORN embezzled millions of dollars for “housing counseling” and destroyed documents to hide the fraud.
In that report, the IG reveals that the scope of ACORN’s money laundering is impossible to fully track, though it determined with certainty that HUD laws and policies were widely violated when ACORN spent big chunks of public funds to pay the lucrative salaries and “fringe benefits” of its employees.
Federal investigators have documented fraudulent activity on the part of ACORN Housing/ACHOA. For example, according to a September 21, 2010, HUD inspector general report, which notes that ACORN Housing is "now operating as Affordable Housing Centers of America," the organization misappropriated funds from a $3,252,399 federal grant.
The inspector general concluded that ACORN Housing/ACHOA had charged salary expenses to the HUD grant that "were not fully supported." The organization also continued to pay its counselors even after they were terminated, did not meet federal procurement standards and allegedly destroyed documents to conceal the fraudulent activity.
Besides ACORN affiliates, a new HUD campaign warns Hispanics that time is running out to get up to $50,000.00 from Uncle Sam to pay their mortgage, past due charges, taxes, insurance and even legal fees associated with their home. The money is being disbursed to the radical Mexican group La Raza by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as part of a billion-dollar Emergency Homeowner Loan Program (EHLP), according to Judicial Watch.
Thanks to Jill Farrell, director of public affairs at Judicial Watch, for her valuable information and help.
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