Grassley says Treasury response on HHF wasteful spending 'inadequate and unconvincing'

This story appeared in Bank Digest.                                   

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) has received a response from the Treasury Department to inquiries he had made regarding wasteful spending of the Troubled Asset Relief Program's Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund for the Hardest Hit Housing Markets (Hardest Hit Fund), which his press release described as "a $9.6 billion program meant to help homeowners who suffered during the housing crisis."                                  

Grassley's most recent letter to Treasury had referred to an August 2017 audit report by the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program that identified administrative expenses SIGTARP determined were unnecessary. Treasury said it was conducting its own review of expenses identified in the report and would move to recover improperly spent taxpayer funds once its review was completed.                                  

Grassley's letter had also referred to a September 2016 SIGTARP audit report that recommended that Treasury recover more than $8 million in administrative expenses from the Nevada housing finance agency. Treasury responded that it had determined that only $82,172 of these expenses were made in violation of Hardest Hit Fund program requirements and had recovered that amount from the Nevada housing finance agency.                                  

Commenting on Treasury's response, Grassley said the agency's "explanation of the significant discrepancy between the $8 million that TARP's watchdog said was misspent and the $82,172 recovered from Nevada HFA is inadequate and unconvincing."