Update: Maybe HUD Is Not A Dud And The Washington Post Was Just Slinging Mud?

by:  Peter J. Gallagher

Earlier this week, we posted a story about the Washington Post's year-long investigation into HUD's HOME Program which was designed to provide affordable housing to the  working poor ("HUD Is A Dud According To Washington Post Investigative Report").  As you might recall, the investigation slammed HUD's management of the HOME Program as "dysfunctional."  HUD has now posted a response on its blog (the cleverly title HUDdle), called "Setting The Record Straight: What The Washington Post Got Wrong About The HOME Program."  After reading the response, you may be left with the impression that HUD could have shortened it to one word — "everything" — because it offers a strikingly different view of the HOME Program than the one presented in the Post.  Among other things, HUD criticized the Post's study for: (1) unfairly focusing on a small percentage, approximately 2.5%, of the more than 28,000 active developments underway pursuant to the HOME Program; and (2) failing to factor the nationwide housing crisis into the equation. 

In a follow up article, "Members Of Congress Call For Probe Of HUD's Affordable-Housing Program," the Post noted that it never intended to track all 28,000 projects, but instead analyzed 5,100 deals worth $50,000 or more, hundreds of which were started before the housing crisis began.  The Post also reported that, in response to its study, a bipartisan group of Senators and Congressmen were calling for investigations into the program.