ACORN In Trouble Again

A spinoff of the controversial community organizing group ACORN has failed to comply with federal grant requirements and should be placed on "inactive status," asserts a report by the inspector general of the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

ACORN, convicted in multiple voter-fraud cases, may have concealed fraud by destroying or failing to produce records, the investigation concluded.

The OIG found the group received $3.25 million in housing counseling grants from HUD between 2008 and 2009. More than $2.544 million, nearly 80 percent, of the HUD grants were used to pay ACORN's salaries.

HUD has awarded ACORN more than $19 million in housing counseling grants since 1995, the report points out.

The report was released in response to a Sept. 16, 2009, request by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, ranking member of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs.

It details the results of an investigation by HUD's Office of Inspector General of grant funds awarded under the agency's Housing Counseling Program to ACORN Housing Corporation Inc. of Chicago, now operating as Affordable Housing Centers of America," or AHOCA.

AHOCA's communications director in Washington, D.C., was asked by WND to respond to the report but has not replied.

The OIG said that for AHOCA "to continue as a HUD-approved housing counseling agency and for future awards consideration," it "must bring its operations into full compliance with applicable laws, regulators and policies governing HUD'sHousing Counseling Program."

The report said the organization was unable to properly account for its allocation of salary expenses, which raised "serious concerns," "particularly given the millions offederal and non-federal dollars" allocated. It also found "services procured from ACORN 'associated' organizations failed to meet the required tests of 'open and free competition.'"
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