The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Department of Housing and Community Development" ...
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Broken Bridges: Did City Hall's plan to fight gangs bankroll a gangster?
Ex-gang member and alleged Mexico Mafia member Hector Marroquin, Sr. founded a gang-prevention program in Los Angeles in 1997 that was supported by nearly $1.5 million from the City COuncil. Using FOIA requests and over 50 interviews, L.A. Weekly reporters Jeffrey Anderson and Christine Pelisek point out that the program had no oversight, no means of measuring its success in keeping children out of gangs. They also uncovered nepotism, and evidence suggesting Marroquin was a member of the Mexican Mafia while he ran the anti-gang program.
Tags: L.A. Bridges; gang intervention programs; Hector Marroquin; Networks Organizing for Gang Unity and Neighborhood Safety; N.O. G.U.N.S; L.A. County Probation Department; Mexican Mafia; drug trade; FOIA; Community Development Department; DEA; Drug Enforcement Administration; L.A. Sherriff's Department; Diversified Strategies for Organizing; People Works, Inc.; Central Recovery Development Project; Toberman Settlement House;
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Nonprofit groups and Legal Action say Fire Department money is up in smoke
The Milwaukee Street Beacon uncovered thathundreds of thousands of Community Development Block Grant dollars went to play Milwaukee Fire Department staffers, instead of to neighborhood organizations.
Tags: HUD; Housing and Urban Development; Community Development Block Grants; Fire Fighters Out Creating Urban Safety; FOCUS; fire detectors; fire prevention; Neighborhood Improvement Development Corporation; NICD; Merrill Park NEighborhood Association; Legal Action; Community Parole Watch
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The $100 Million Failure
The Post investigates how a small group of nonprofits in DC have spent more than $100 million in housing grant moneys awarded by the state Department of Housing and Community Development. The series reveal that the agency has failed to monitor the nonprofits' spending; no uniform standards have been used to measure the progress of construction projects aimed to rebuild poor neighborhoods; some of the nonprofits had for-profit subsidiaries that benefited from the grants.
Tags: real estate; poverty; crime; economic development; affordable housing
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Subsidizing Blight
Governing magazine takes a look the federal government's Section 8 housing program and its effects on a few neighborhoods in U.S. cities. The federal housing vouchers are supposed to break up concentrations of poverty, but critics say it often just creates new ones.
Tags: federal housing vouchers; Section 8; poverty; housing; Baltimore; community development; housing projects; low-income neighborhoods; housing program; U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; HUD; Patterson Park; voucher program; transitional neighborhoods
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Neighborhood Predators
The Ford Foundation reports on the fine line between predatory lending and subprime loans -- those that are more expensive because of the higher risk involved. Without subprime loans many minority families would not be able to buy homes, the article reports. Because the institutions giving subprime loans are often not banks, there's no way to monitor their behavior. "It's like the Wild West," the article reports.
Tags: predatory lending; Community Reinvestment Act; U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development; flipping
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The Florida Mile
A Washington City Paper investigation reveals that one of every six buildings along the Florida Ave. is an abandoned ruin, but "somehow the D.C. government hasn't noticed." The story finds that "District officials use the property-tax system not as a potential tool to facilitate the repair of vacant buildings, but as a club to blunt the likelihood that such properties will ever be refurbished." The reporter points to examples of misclassification of properties, which have cost the city thousands of dollars in uncollected taxes.
Tags: absentee ownership; nuisance properties; neighborhoods; Department of Housing and Community Development; taxes; condemned property; Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs
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Poisoned
"Imagine what would happen if a toxic substance rained down on Rhode Island and poisoned nearly 3,000 children in a single year . . . Year after year, thousands of children are poisoned here by lead paint wearing off older houses. But there is no groundswell of outrage. And most people seem unaware that lead is even a problem. . . The Providence Journal examines the young lives of some of lead paint's victims- lives dramatically limited, and in one New Hampshire case, ended by a poison most of their parents were never taught to fear. The six-part series will explore how lead poisoning is thwarting brain development in so many of our young people- a loss that drains talent and wealth from our entire community."
Tags: children; poison; health; Rhode Island Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Act; lead; housing; Consumer Product Safety Commission; Department of Housing and Urban Development
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A Blight on the Cities
The Pioneer Press 3-part special report investigates "chronic problem properties" and the effect they have on the Twin Cities. "At the heart of the issue is a badly broken system, rife with legal loopholes, spotty enforcement and too few penalties for lawbreakers." The newspaper found that "more than 6,400 properties in St. Paul and another 22,000 in Minneapolis have failed to comply with housing codes for two years or longer," inspectors are unwilling to crack down on the offenders and "a small group of landlords account for a disproportionate number of complaints."
Tags: CAR; housing; Minnesota; properties; landlords; St. Paul; Code Enforcement Unit; Minneapolis Inspections Department; PACT; People Aligning Communities Together; HUD; Housing and Urban Development; eyesores; trash; property values; HUD
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No title (id: 13441)
The Baltimore Sun investigates the deterioration of many of Baltimore's inner city neighborhoods. Citizens living in the inner city face daily challenges of increased drug sales - many of them involving minors - increased murder, poor housing conditions and poor housing inspection standards. The series chronicles the fall of several members in the Department of Housing and Community Development. (Oct. 29, 1995 - Feb. 9, 1996)
Tags: Haner Daemmrich Higham Siegel Crime Corruption Negligence 12 pgs.
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No title (id: 13399)
One of Baltimore's highest ranking housing code inspectors owns at least six seriously deteriorated rowhouses on the city's east side--contributing to the blight he is paid to control and leaving his tenants in often dangerous living conditions. The Sun reports that an independent survey found 100 deficiencies in the official's properties. (Jan. 28, 1996)