WASHINGTON — The Department of Housing and Urban Development likely paid out more than $84 million in ineligible assistance to Minnesota during former President Joe Biden’s final year in office — including to more than 500 “deceased tenants,” according to officials and documents reviewed by The Post.
HUD has been looking into billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded housing aid doled out by the Biden administration — and their most recent review found $84.6 million in potentially erroneous payments in fiscal year 2024.
That included up to $496,000 in improper assistance to 509 dead tenants.
Approximately $246,000 more was shelled out to 20 people whose Social Security numbers couldn’t be verified, meaning they were likely non-citizens.
“Biden’s HUD failed the people of Minnesota — paying dead people while vulnerable families were left behind,” Secretary Scott Turner said.
“This gross level of mismanagement and failure to safeguard American taxpayer dollars is unacceptable. Under President Trump’s leadership, we are holding bad actors accountable and will continue to root out rampant fraud in Minnesota and across the country.”
HUD’s review comes as Minnesota faces mounting accusations of widespread fraud totaling billions of dollars over the course of Democratic Gov. Tim Walz’s tenure. Walz dropped his bid for a third term last week amid the scandal.
The funding went to 61 housing authorities across the Land of 10,000 Lakes, officials said in the preliminary audit, which was not able to fully confirm fraud had taken place.
A total of $5.8 billion in “questionable” rental assistance payments were flagged nationwide — including to roughly 30,000 “deceased tenants” and “thousands” of possible non-citizens — The Post first reported last month.
Of that funding, approximately 11% went to more than 200,000 possibly ineligible tenants. Of those tenants, 29,715 (around 14%) were flagged as potentially deceased, 9,472 (4%) were flagged as non-citizens and 165,393 (82%) were taking funding that exceeded the threshold for assistance in their geographic region.
A “large concentration” was doled out to housing authorities in New York, California and Washington, DC.
Deceased recipients were unearthed in all 50 states, prompting Turner to decry a “massive abuse of taxpayer dollars.”
A total of $49 billion was spent on more than 4 million households, with $33 billion coming from HUD’s Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA). Another $16 billion came from the Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA) departmental program.
Past audits from HUD’s Office of Inspector General faulted both the department and the states getting money for not having robust antifraud measures in place.
Both PBRA and TBRA officials were also cited for not properly assessing the potential fraud risks — with investigators saying there was no “clear process” for reporting suspected fraud.
HUD’s Office of the Chief Financial Officer has overseen the review of taxpayer funding to public housing authorities, landlords, other contractors or non-federal entities in fiscal year 2024, which spanned from Oct. 1, 2023, to Sept. 30, 2024.
Former HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge and her deputy secretary Adrianne Todman did not respond to past requests for comment about alleged improper payments during that funding year.
Reps for the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
