Jun

12

Of Course: HUD Awards $70 Million in Grants to Teach Grant Recipients How to Spend Grant Money More Wisely

Filed Under Politics | 19 Comments

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This administration is always thinking of ways to save money.

You’d think that somebody handing out grant money would, as a part of the grant process, first establish exactly what the recipient is going to spend the money on before giving it out. But this is the government we’re talking about, and they’re handing out taxpayer money, so the conventional way of doing things pretty much goes out the window:

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently announced it is spending $70 million to improve the way its grant recipients spend billions in taxpayer cash.

Most of the $70 million will go to consulting companies that provide “technical assistance” to HUD-funded communities and non-profit organizations. The consultants will help the communities and nonprofits “improve their use of federal funds to revitalize neighborhoods, help the homeless and produce more affordable housing,” a May 15 new release said.

CNSNews.com asked a HUD official, “If I’m reading this correctly, this is a grant to teach people how to spend money they already have?”

“Absolutely,” responded HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan.

He said the $70 million is being spent to “amplify” the already-existing community development block grants handed out by HUD. In fiscal year 2012, those bock grants totalled around $3-billion.

I’d love to see who runs these “consulting companies.” I’ll bet anything we’d see a familiar name or two.

Imagine a grant officer for a private charity giving somebody a million dollars. Then, when his boss asked what the recipient was going to do with the grant money, the grant officer said “I’m not really sure… we should give somebody else a grant to go watch them and make sure they spend it judiciously.” This hypothetical grant officer would be fired, but fortunately there would probably be a job waiting for him at HUD.

From HUD’s press release concerning the “grant to teach recipients not to take the grants for granted” program:

In a budget climate where state and local governments are challenged to do more with less, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $70 million in grants to help communities and non-profit organizations, improve their use of federal funds to revitalize neighborhoods, help the homeless and produce more affordable housing.

“These funds complement the eCon Planning Suite, new 21st century tools with new data and technology that HUD launched last week to help communities ensure that scarce federal dollars are targeted to where they are needed most and can achieve the biggest impact,” said HUD Assistant Secretary Mercedes Mãrquez. “The grants we award today will go a long way toward ensuring federally funded community development, affordable housing and homeless assistance work to make the greatest possible impact.”

“eCon”? Perfect. They’re hiring, too, which means you can get an eCon job as an eCon man for the government.

If the term “federally funded community development” isn’t an oxymoron, I don’t know what is. When I think “federally funded community development,” I think Detroit. No thanks.

As for the HUD grant for the HUD grants, how long will it be until somebody suspects the latest round of grants isn’t being spent as wisely as it should be, and there’s a grant for the monitoring of the grant to guide the grants?

Comments

19 Responses to “Of Course: HUD Awards $70 Million in Grants to Teach Grant Recipients How to Spend Grant Money More Wisely”

  1. Joe Redfield on June 12th, 2012 5:32 pm

    This is probably why the Stimulus failed…, er, succeeded less than expected; they forget to include $100 billion extra to train local and state governments in how to spend it.

  2. Granny55 on June 12th, 2012 5:56 pm

    Un-effing-believable!!! If it was not written in black in white you would think it was a joke!!!

  3. Marshall_Will on June 12th, 2012 6:45 pm

    " to revitalize neighborhoods, help the homeless and produce more affordable housing."

    Right, like a DIME of it will ever make it that far? Those consulting firms will devour 80 cents of every dollar and what little wasn't winnowed down will end up in the hands ( or pockets ) of community organizers.

  4. clu seatoe on June 12th, 2012 7:05 pm

    These carpetbaggers will continue their wealth redistribution right up until the last second.

    Does every damn employee in every office in every building in Chicago-on-the-Potomac have a debit card to the ATM at the U.S. Treasury? Is there no congressional oversight? What the HELL!!

  5. SignPainterGuy on June 12th, 2012 7:20 pm

    Politicians are addicted to spending every bit of money they can get their grubby little hands on and are quite adept at inventing new ways of spending it. Since there`s saving going on (cough, cough), there`s a vacuum created and nature abhors a vacuum and since dems especially are all about protecting nature, they are just doing their duty to keep things in balance. (cough) Why do I feel like a pretzel ?

  6. backwoodsconsr on June 12th, 2012 7:36 pm

    Big Brother is watching Big Brother, and demanding to get paid well for doing it.

  7. Marshall_Will on June 12th, 2012 8:01 pm

    CNSNews.com asked a HUD official, “If I’m reading this correctly, this is a grant to teach people how to spend money they already have?”

    “Absolutely,” responded HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan.

    This low level Prog doesn't even SEE the folly of his response. All makes perfect sense to him? If you're living in a tony suburb of DC w/ tree lined streets, neat as a pin neighbors that all have His & Her Audi's to commute to your gub-job, it'd make sense to you too.

  8. Marshall_Will on June 12th, 2012 8:05 pm

    Yeah this is just vandalism now. Like any occupying army, your ouster is mustering outside the city walls to mount their final offensive so you figure ( why not line your pockets on the way OUT? )

    Something Nanking, Atlanta and Manila will always have in 'common' I suppose?

  9. Truesoldier__ on June 12th, 2012 8:08 pm

    Just like the 20 million in grant money given out in Seattle to weatherize the homes. I think they managed to weatherize something like:

    As of last week (the story ran Aug 15, 2011), only three homes had been retrofitted and just 14 new jobs have emerged from the program. Many of the jobs are administrative, and not the entry-level pathways once dreamed of for low-income workers.
    http://www.seattlepi.com/local/article/Seattle-s-…

  10. SignPainterGuy on June 12th, 2012 8:40 pm

    This reminds me of the movie "Dave"; Kevin Line plays a presidential look-alike chosen to stand in for the real pres. occasionally who, after the real pres. has a stroke, decides to get real and cut the budget. One of the cuts is to a program that spends $Millions to "make people feel good about an auto purchase they`ve already made" !

    Of course in the movie Republicans are made to appear to be evil, money grubbers.

  11. jeffythequick on June 12th, 2012 9:36 pm

    Yo dawg, I heard you like grants, so I made a grant to watch others spend grants so you could grant while you watched grants…

    (My son introduced me to these things, and we laughed for a while while looking at them… Your kids might get that line above…)
    http://memegenerator.net/Yo-Dawg

  12. Marshall_Will on June 12th, 2012 11:52 pm

    In many cases, GOP cronyism, historically, has centered on [singular] acts, events or individuals. Agnew's MD land deal. As noted on MM, while voter fraud takes place on both sides, for the Right ( we've never reached a level of making it "institutionalized"! )

    A local rep. turning his back on a zoning law isn't the same thing as burning thru billions of taxpayer dollars against our will, and against our better interests.

  13. Marshall_Will on June 12th, 2012 11:54 pm

    I'll have to watch that again. It will be worth it just to see Sigorney Weaver in her youth one last time.

  14. SignPainterGuy on June 13th, 2012 12:43 am

    Fun movie, though I can`t see SW as particularly sexy, just cute in her way ! Notice she always wears flat shoes in the movie so she won`t be taller than Kevin; she`s a long drink-o-water !

  15. SignPainterGuy on June 13th, 2012 12:46 am

    Doug, why did I get grabbed this time ? I didn`t say anything out of bounds !

  16. SignPainterGuy on June 13th, 2012 1:14 am

    Doug, the site admin. is HUNGRY again and still has a taste for my comments. FEED THAT THING !!

  17. Marshall_Will on June 13th, 2012 12:40 pm

    Yeah, what's up? I've always thought she was a really cute guy too.

  18. Marshall_Will on June 13th, 2012 12:44 pm

    TS,

    God love you for remembering that. We need to feature that going down the home stretch. Not that shams like this will in any way toggle BTB PNW voters over to red? Simply to make them feel like the Oppressive HEELS that they are.

    Yes, millions upon millions needed for what the avg. dad does every other Fall w/ $30 bucks worth of caulk from Home Depot and a 12-pack.

  19. H.elp U.s D.evelop Common Sense | The B.U.G. (Bronzeville Urban Green) on October 4th, 2012 10:20 pm

    [...] Of Course: HUD Awards $70 Million in Grants to Teach Grant Recipients How to Spend Grant Money More … [...]

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