FederalDaily.com > HUD Probe Finds Feds Who Cheat Housing Subsidy Program

FederalDaily - January 14, 2008

HUD Probe Finds Feds Who Cheat Housing Subsidy Program

A two-year-old Housing and Urban Development (HUD) investigation into federal employees who fraudulently underreport their income to qualify for housing assistance has so far produced 34 indictments, 13 convictions and recovered more than a half-million dollars. The probe, launched in 2006 and dubbed “Operation FedRent,” so far has collected $541,813 from federal workers who misrepresented their incomes to obtain rental subsidies, HUD said in a Jan. 10 statement. The ongoing investigation is a joint effort by HUD and investigators from the HUD Office of Inspector General. HUD noted that federal employees who are receiving housing assistance must meet strict household income limits to be eligible. The probe uses computer matching techniques to identify feds who underreport their income to qualify, HUD said. “Operation FedRent is sending a very clear message to federal employees who are defrauding our programs—if you try to game the system, you’ll be found,” said HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson. To see more, go to: www.hud.gov/news/release.cfm?content=pr08-002.cfm.

CBO: VA Makes Progress on Veterans Health Care

An ongoing organizational and management restructuring has helped the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) health care system win high marks for progress, said a new preliminary Congressional Budget Office (CBO) review. CBO looked at the quality of VA’s health care, and examined VA’s achievements and lessons learned from both its management initiatives and application of information technology. Key factors in the improvement cited in the report included VA’s restructuring efforts to permit more shared decision making among VA’s central office, regional managers and facility directors; greater use of health information technology; and increased performance measurement and assessment. A final version of the report—due out later this year—will provide details about the steps that VA uses to assess managers’ performance, including the role that quality indicators play in rating performance. “It is gratifying to receive such a positive appraisal from CBO,” VA Secretary James Peake said in a Jan. 9 statement. To see more, go to: http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1443, or the report at www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/88xx/doc8892/12-21-VA_Healthcare.pdf.

APWU Rallies Members Around Bargaining Bill

American Postal Workers Union (APWU) President William Burrus on Jan. 9 called on the union’s state and local leadership to rally members to support a new bill pending in Congress that would strengthen the union’s hand when bargaining with the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) over subcontracting issues. H.R. 4236, the Mail Network Protection Act, would require USPS to bargain with affected unions before entering into contracts involving mail processing, mail handling or surface transportation of mail, Burrus said. The bill’s bargaining table provisions would kick in when the contracts involved reached the equivalent of $5 million or 50 work-years over a 12-month period, Burrus said in a statement to the union’s state and local presidents. The bill was introduced by Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass., on Nov. 15. “Too often, contracting out costs the Postal Service more than if the work were performed by postal employees,” Burrus wrote in a letter to Congress last month. “Frequently, subcontracting is ineffective, and contractors’ service to the public is poor.” APWU members were encouraged to write to their congressional representatives and ask them to co-sponsor and support H.R. 4236. To see more, go to: http://apwu.org/news/webart/2008/webart-0803-hr4236-letter-080109.htm