(Source: CBS6 News) ALBANY -- Public housing is a program designed to help low-income families by giving them a roof over their head.  Last year, about 1.1 million families received public housing assistance.   However, people continue to use the system - even after their salaries skyrocket.   A blunt report released by the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found more than 25,000…

(Source: CBS Boston) BOSTON (CBS) – Like thousands of other low-income residents in Boston, Angelina Depina, 26, knows how tough it is to find an affordable place to live. To qualify for subsidized public housing options, prospective tenants have to meet income restrictions. There is a lot of competition for a limited number of vacancies. In Boston, the waiting list has 38,000 applicants. This Dorchester working mom was surprised to learn…

Over lunch at the Sendera, the Victoria Housing Authority Board accepted the resignation of Executive Director Debbie Gillespie. Gillespie's resignation comes about a month after an inspector general found the housing authority mismanaged more than $780,000 between Jan. 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014. It also comes as law enforcement investigates Gillespie, former Chief Financial Officer Dolores Garza and other employees for theft. Gillespie was not…

(Source: USAO, MA) BOSTON – Two former Roxse Homes employees were arrested today on charges that they conspired to rent apartments at the housing development in Roxbury to individuals who were not qualified for those apartments, in exchange for cash bribes.  Mathis Lemons, 41, of Brockton, and Ismael Morales, 35, of Jamaica Plain, were indicted on one count of conspiracy and seven counts of bribery.  The Indictment alleges that…

(Source: Victoria Advocate) A damning audit showing the Victoria Housing Authority mismanaged more than $780,000 of federal money could result in criminal charges. "This is not surprising, and I think that is a very conservative number," Criminal District Attorney Stephen Tyler said Friday. Mayor Paul Polasek added: "I'm very disturbed by these allegations." The Victoria Housing Authority's former Chief Financial Officer Dolores Garza, current…

(Source: USAO, CT) Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that ANDREW ROSS, 58, of New Haven, waived his right to indictment and pleaded guilty today before U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford to paying nearly $350,000 in bribes to the former executive director of the West Haven Housing Authority in exchange for government contracts and business. According to court documents and statements…

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A former program manager for the Parma Public Housing Agency was sentenced Thursday to 16 months in federal prison for stealing $232,000 over six years. Amy Belz, 34, who is free on bond while she awaits a date to report to prison, tearfully apologized to the judge and her family during the sentencing hearing. She cited the effect on her two daughters. "Because of me, their lives were turned upside down," Belz said. In handing…

(Source: kens5.com) SAN ANTONIO – The embattled executive director of the Housing Authority of Bexar County has resigned, months after a federal audit found the agency misused more than $583,000 in funds. Albert “Buddy” Aleman resigned Aug. 19, effective immediately, a county spokeswoman said. Aleman’s resignation comes less than two months after Judge Nelson Wolff publicly called for his dismissal, and while the agency actively looked to find…

(Source: Pacific Daily News) Federal subpoenas were delivered Friday to the Guam Housing and Renewal Authority’s main office, GHURA management confirmed Monday. Albert Santos, GHURA’s interim executive director while Mike Duenas is off island, said while he can confirm subpoenas were served, he couldn’t disclose who was subpoenaed and what information was sought. The U.S. Housing and Urban Development in Washington, D.C., issued the subpoenas,…

Earlier today, federal agents arrested Stacey Stackhouse, the former executive director of Village of Hempstead Housing Authority (VHHA) and James Alimonos, Michael Lambros, and Demetrios Kaouris, who performed construction work for the agency, for their involvement in a wire fraud conspiracy in connection with the theft of federal funds. The defendants are scheduled to appear this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge A. Kathleen…

A former Chelsea Housing Authority manager and a consultant face possible prison sentences after being found guilty on Wednesday of conspiring to defraud the government by rigging biennial federal inspections of apartments to make sure the housing agency received a high performance rating. “This ends another chapter in holding accountable those who engaged in the extensive abuse of the public trust at the housing authority,” said Thomas K.…

The Buffalo Municipal Housing Authority paid $211,216 for outside legal services that should have been performed by the authority’s in-house lawyer, according to a federal audit that was undertaken a year ago in response to an anonymous hotline complaint. The audit renewed tenant claims that the authority wastes money on outside law firms, money that could be better spent providing services to residents. However, in response to that same…

A former city of Dallas employee who admitted to hindering a federal investigation and trading housing for sex, among other things, will spend 15 months behind bars, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office this morning. Lawrence Hart has also been ordered to pay back $8,619. From 2012 until last year, Hart worked for the city’s Housing Department as a caseworker for Project Reconnect, which uses federal dollars to help the formerly incarcerated…

LAFAYETTE — A former employee of the Opelousas Housing Authority was sentenced to two years of probation Friday in a federal investigation of bid-rigging that also snagged the former director and a local contractor. Garnette L. Thomas, 76, the Housing Authority’s former grant and capital funds coordinator, pleaded guilty last year to fraud charges. Thomas faced 10 to 16 months in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, but U.S. District…

The White Mountain Apache Housing Authority misspent millions of federal dollars on entertainment, gift certificates and other improper items, and is so badly managed it should be considered for receivership, according to a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development audit released this week. A HUD Office of Inspector General report issued Tuesday also says the agency's Southwest Office of Native American Programs should order the tribal…

U.S. Attorney’s Office District of New Mexico Press Release ALBUQUERQUE—Two men from Gallup, N.M., pleaded guilty today to federal charges arising out of a scheme to defraud the United States and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) of more than $100,000. The guilty pleas were announced by U.S. Attorney Damon P. Martinez, Phyllis Robinson, Special Agent in Charge of Region 6, HUD Office of Inspector General, and Carol K.O…

  Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Government Operations Topic: “Evaluating Public Housing in the U.S.: Reigning in Waste, Fraud, Abuse and Mismanagement at Public Housing Authorities."  

USAO Southern District of Ohio Press Release COLUMBUS – Wendy Harper, 44, Columbus, Ohio pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to embezzling HUD program funds from her employer, Harvest Management Group, Inc, which manages more than 900 units for elderly and disabled people who qualify for HUD assistance. She also pleaded guilty to filing a false income tax return. Carter M. Stewart, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Barry…

This Press Release Courtesy of United States Attorney Daniel G. Bogden - Department of Justice - District of Nevada LAS VEGAS, Nev. – A woman who pleaded guilty to stealing over $400,000 from the unemployment system, public housing authority, and Social Security Administration, was sentenced today to 57 months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $477,466 in restitution, announced Daniel G. Bogden, United States…

(LAS VEGAS, KXNT)–A Las Vegas woman who ripped off the unemployment system, public housing authority and Social Security of over $400,000 has been given a nearly 5 year prison term. Teresa Towns , 50, who pleaded guilty last Fall to various charges involving the theft of government money, has been ordered to pay $477,000 restitution. Over an eight year period until her arrest last year, prosecutors say Towns used various aliases to establish…