FEDS TOLD TO FIND THE FUGITIVE FELONS LIVING IN PUBLIC HOUSING AND EVICT THEM: Does good old fashioned shoe-leather reporting still make a difference? Consider Ethan Barton of the Daily Caller News Foundation Investigative Group. His work exposed the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s failure to enforce the law barring fugitive felons from living in public housing.
And now, as Barton reports today, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley is telling the HUD Inspector General to stop playing games about a previously unpublished 2012 report. That document estimated that 1,300 fugitive felons were living in public housing in just one HUD region. Grassley thinks it’s time for government officials to get serious about finding such fugitives and removing them, as required by federal law.
“’It is troubling that the full number of wanted fugitive felons living in public housing remains unknown, unexplained, undocumented and unjustified,’ the Iowa Republican wrote in a letter to HUD Inspector General (IG) David Montoya Wednesday. ‘Tenants deserve to know if a wanted fugitive felon is living in the same housing project.’
“So, Grassley wants the HUD IG to do ‘a thorough, nationwide investigation into the number of wanted fugitive felons living in public housing and the adequacy of controls in place to prevent that from occurring. The American people need assurance that HUD is enforcing the law and ensuring the safety and security of public housing tenants.’”
Grassley’s directive culminated a process that began several weeks ago when Barton first reported the 2012 document. When he asked the IG what was done about the 1,300 fugitive felons, he got the run-around and a claim the report was never published because it was based on faulty data. But what made the data faulty was never explained, to Barton or to Grassley.
It will take a while but ultimately Grassley’s directive should result in hundreds of dangerous criminals being removed from public housing and brought to justice. No telling how many murders and rapes will never happen now because a persistent journalist refused to go away.