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 "U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development" ...
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Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority Investigation
"These stories detail a history of public contracting at the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority that is at best sloppy and at worst rife with favoritism and conflicts of interest. An audit of the authority by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development confirmed the problems with contracting practices at the authority and asked for $2 million to be repaid because the money wasn't spent properly."
Tags: housing; local government; federal government; housing; local politics; FOIA; public records; government spending
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The Flip Side of Homeownership
According to the author, "A five-month investigation by The Record exposed serious loopholes in local, state and federal housing regulations that thwart the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's goal of neighborhood stabilization of the inner city. The stories document how lax regulations allowed a real estate partnership to buy more than 100 shoddy homes in New Jersey cities, make cosmetic repairs and sell them for 75 to 100 percent profit to first-time homebuyers with taxpayer backed mortgages. Due to this property-flipping scheme, many owners are forced to foreclose because of high repair costs. Because HUD guarantees the mortgages, the federal government ends up paying off the house."
Tags: federal housing; housing regulations; schemes; loopholes; state housing regulations; New Jersey; real estate; mortgages; taxpayers; federal government; HUD; Housing and Urban Development; cities; inner city
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Federal scrutiny on home deals
In an effort to deal with property flipping and mortgage problems in Baltimore, federal officials have barred a half-dozen Maryland real estate appraisers from the Federal Housing Administration program that insures home mortgages. The action is part of a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development effort to deal with a growing problem of inaccurate appraisals.
Tags: Federal Housing Administration; HUD; appraisers; home mortgages; FHA
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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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HUD Sweet Home
The story documents how the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development systematically sold repossessed houses for more than they were worth to unwitting buyers, many of them low-income, first-time homebuyers.
Tags: None
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Green grows the garage
Governing looks at the urban redevelopment that has swept the country. While the public looks down on government subsidies given to developers, subsidized parking garages offer an alternative.
Tags: Business Shopping U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
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Public Housing Demolition
For the past few years, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has been offering millions of dollars in federal housing grants to allow housing authorities to demolish and rebuild their worst housing stock, through a program called HOPE VI. In the wake of major federal cuts to HUD, public housing agencies across the nation have been scrambling to obtain what may be the last federal money allotted to housing refurbishment for a long time. San Francisco has applied for and received almost $100 million in the past three years. While renovations are completed, as many as 3,000 public housing residents will be relocated form their homes. The Bay Guardian finds that because of a shortage of affordable housing, it has become extremely difficult for public housing residents to find adequate housing in the city. (Jan. 10, 31; Feb. 7, 14, 21; March 6; April 3, 10, 21; May 22; July 24; Aug. 14, 21, 28; Nov. 27; Dec. 18, 1996)
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No title (id: 13036)
Safety Net, Inc., a nonprofit corporation founded by Ambassador Lil Barrow-Veal, leases homes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development with the understanding the houses will be rented to homeless and poor people. Safety Net also bought some HUD houses with the understanding those houses would be sold to low-income people. But the Advocate found that Barrow-Veal was selling these houses to friends and relatives who are not eligible for the program. (March 31, 1996)
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Suburban Housing Inspectors Crack Down on Latinos
The Chicago Reporter found that even though Elgin officials say they are enforcing laws that are crucial to maintaining home values and ensuring public safety, they have issued one housing code citation for every 35 housing units in predominantly Latino neighborhoods such as these, compared to one citation for every 59 units in white neighborhoods. (Sept. 1995)