Re: 11-Year-Old Has Baby
Justadream
grandmothers!"
-- Washington, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty
spicpussy
So when might we expect to see another receivership for Dysfunctional
City?
I'd almost be willing to wager that in D.C., more allocated tax
dollars are PILFERED from city programs than are SPENT on their
intended, "legitimate" projects.
But auditable figures for D.C. programs do not exist.
Wonder what the mayor and his police chief are ... up to these days?
----------------------
"HUD threatens to cut off D.C. AIDS funding next year"
"City told to improve oversight $12.2 million for housing at stake"
By Debbie Cenziper
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 12, 2009
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, worried about
widespread lapses in oversight of the District's AIDS program, is
threatening to cut off $12.2 million in federal funding next year if
the problems are not fixed.
Assistant Secretary Mercedes M. Márquez said HUD will send a letter to
the city this week stipulating that no new AIDS housing money will be
awarded unless the D.C. Department of Health's HIV/AIDS Administration
improves its tracking of services and spending.
Márquez also wrote last week to D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), saying
she was "deeply concerned" about a recent Washington Post series that
found the HIV/AIDS Administration had paid more than $25 million to
nonprofit groups that delivered substandard care or failed to account
for their work.
Many were housing groups funded with HUD money, including one that
received more than $400,000 for a promised job-training center that
never opened. Márquez, head of community planning and development,
said the city possibly violated more than 60 HUD requirements.
"It is absolutely unacceptable that any single person suffers as a
result of the District not being able to manage taxpayer dollars,"
Márquez said this week. "This is where they pushed it to: No new money
until you fix this."
Mafara Hobson, spokeswoman for the mayor's office, said the city will
work closely with HUD to ensure continued funding.
HUD officials said this is the first time in the AIDS housing
program's 18-year history that money would be withheld from a city
based on poor performance.
Márquez said the agency decided to take the step, first reported
Wednesday on washingtonpost.com, because the District's AIDS program
has consistently been among the most troubled in the nation.
Since at least 2003, HUD's monitoring reports have repeatedly found
that the city, which has the highest rate of AIDS cases in the
country, has failed to keep tabs on nonprofit groups that promised to
provide housing for the sick. In some cases, the District did not
provide financial records and other documents from HUD monitors.
Last year, the city had to return more than $600,000 in AIDS housing
money for failing to fix problems chronicled by HUD monitors in 2003
and 2006. HUD has provided training to the city and has noted
improvements in client care and housing standards, but accountability
lags.
This year, as HUD prepared to do its 2009 monitoring, the agency sent
two letters to HIV/AIDS Administration Director Shannon L. Hader. The
letters urged the city to release records and arrange for a meeting
between HUD and the city's financial management team.
"They were making it almost impossible to do the monitoring. . . .
It's really like pulling teeth with the District," Márquez said.
When the 2009 report was complete, HUD again found the city had failed
to ensure that nonprofit groups submitted basic documentation to
account for their spending, such as payroll reports, time cards,
consulting contracts, and invoices for supplies and other expenses.
In a September letter, HUD asked the HIV/AIDS Administration to
provide the records and overhaul its practices. The city provided a
partial response, which is under review, but HUD is waiting for more
documentation. HUD officials said they expect the District to comply,
which will enable the money to be released.
Until the issues are resolved, however, HUD intends to freeze next
year's housing grant, worth $12.2 million, Márquez said. Much of the
Washington region would be affected because the HIV/AIDS
Administration shares the money with programs in parts of Maryland,
Virginia and West Virginia, including Prince George's, Loudoun,
Fairfax and Arlington counties. Combined, the region receives the
third-largest grant from HUD's Housing Opportunities for Persons with
AIDS program.
The HIV/AIDS Administration receives money from other federal agencies
for medical care, drugs and HIV prevention. Along with money from city
government, the agency oversees about $100 million a year. Much of the
money goes to large medical clinics, but the District also funds a
network of smaller nonprofit groups -- about 90 since 2004 -- that
promise services from counseling to case management.
The Post identified a number of deficiencies among those groups. Some
failed to file tax returns or secure a business license with the city.
Others submitted employee résumés and consulting contracts with false
information or had spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on travel
and executive pay.
Fenty and D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles announced an
investigation in recent weeks, giving priority to groups receiving
AIDS money. Two Republican congressmen are also pushing for an
investigation.
An advisory group that helps oversee federal AIDS money in the
District also stepped in, urging the city late last month to start
providing more details about site inspections and grievances filed
against local nonprofit groups. Hader has agreed to do so.
The advisory group continues to push the city to produce records to
account for the spending of AIDS consultant Robin Beale, whose company
drew more than $2 million in recent years. Beale, hired to provide
logistical support for the advisory group, billed the city for unnamed
employees and subcontractors, rent for a high-end office that was
rarely used, and start-up costs for furniture and equipment that city
officials later deemed improper, The Post found.
Wallace Corbett, who heads the advisory group, said the HIV/AIDS
Administration has not provided the records.
"I think it's all about the money," Corbett said. "They don't know
where it went."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/11/AR2009111117109.html?hpid=newswell