NCJ Number
72638
Journal
Congressional Record Volume: 121 Dated: (July 8, 1975) Pages: 21674-21679
Date Published
1975
Length
6 pages
Annotation
These three articles from the Chicago Tribune detail mismanagement, waste, and inefficiencies of programs managed by the Federal Housing Authority and by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to provide cheap housing for low- and moderate-income families.
Abstract
The role of the Federal National Mortgage Association in these matters is also examined in the 7-month investigation. Centered in Chicago, the investigation also covered several small cities in downstate Illinois. The relationship between mortgage bankers and the two Federal agencies as well as HUD and FHA inability or unwillingness to require mortgage bankers to follow established guidelines are documented. Among problems investigated are mortgage companies financing and managing homes hundreds of miles from them, the practice of lending to home buyers known to be financially unqualified in order to make a quick profit at government expense, and failures to provide adequate protection for foreclosed homes. In the latter case, it is believed close to 4 billion tax dollars have been used to finance the destruction of tens of thousands of homes and the decay of hundreds of neighborhoods. Beneficiaries of these Government programs are mortgage bankers, developers, and real estate agents, rather than the families the 1968 Housing Act was to have helped.