The Department of Housing and Urban Development has allowed more than 25,000 families to continue receiving government-subsidized housing despite earning far more than the program's maximum allowed income, according to a new watchdog audit.
Out of the roughly 1.1 million families living in public housing in the United States, 25,226 families, or 2.6 percent, were described as "over-income families" that represent an "egregious" abuse of the system. The inspector general said the over-income families will cost taxpayers $104.4 million over the next year, which could have been used to help the more than 300,000 families on the public housing waiting list, reported The Washington Post.
What's just as bad is that HUD has not taken steps to kick the families out, nor does it have plans to do so, as there are no regulations or policies requiring over-income tenants to leave or be evicted, according to the agency's inspector general.
"Although 25,226 over-income families is a small percentage of the approximate 1.1 million families receiving public housing assistance, we did not find that HUD and public housing authorities had taken or planned to take sufficient steps to reduce at least the egregious examples of over-income families in public housing," the audit said. "Therefore, it is reasonable to expect the number of over-income families participating in the program to increase over time."
Of the 25,226 over-income families receiving public housing assistance, 68 percent, or 17,761, had earned more than the qualifying amount for more than one year.
"HUD regulations require families to meet eligibility income limits only when they are admitted to the public housing programs," the audit said. "The regulations do not limit the length of time that families may reside in public housing."
Of those 17,761 families, 13,388 families, or 53 percent, had income levels up to $10,000 more than HUD's 2014 income limits, while 11,838 families, or 47 percent, had income levels more than $10,000 over the 2014 limits.
One of the more egregious examples cited by the inspector general was a four-person family in New York making $497,911 per year, while the low-income threshold was $67,100. As of July 2014, the family only paid an income-based ceiling rent of $1,574 per month for a three-bedroom apartment, according to Breitbart. "In addition, the head of the household owned real estate that produced $790,534 in rental income between 2009 and 2013," the inspector general said.
An individual in Oxford, Neb., worth $1.6 million was paying only $300 a month for a one-bedroom apartment, while a five-member family in Los Angeles has been in the public housing program since 1974 despite earning more than $200,000 last year and paying less than $1,100 a month for a four-bedroom apartment.
The review was conducted in 2014 and 2015 at the request of Republican Rep. Phil Roe of Tennessee.
