The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program is on the receiving end of yet another negative government watchdog report.
The federal government's flagship affordable housing program lacks basic anti-fraud safeguards, according to a new government watchdog report.
Arturo Osorno/Dreamstime.com
Last week the Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an investigation into the $9 billion a year Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program, finding that it lacks the necessary monitoring to prevent contractors, developers, and other program beneficiaries from fraudulently overbilling the system.
This has been a long-running problem for the LIHTC program, which has been wracked in recent years by revelations of large-scale fraud and abuse. In 2016, a group of developers and contractors in Florida pled guilty to defrauding LIHTC of some $36 million in affordable housing funds. That same year, a Los Angeles housing developer was indicted on charges stemming from an effort to defraud the program of some $50 million.
In both cases, developers conspired with contractors to inflate the construction costs of their affordable housing projects, something the complex, poorly monitored LIHTC program does little to guard against................................Read More
In both cases, developers conspired with contractors to inflate the construction costs of their affordable housing projects, something the complex, poorly monitored LIHTC program does little to guard against................................Read More
