Grassley calls for probe of Philadelphia Housing Authority spending

U.S. Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, has called for a multipronged investigation of spending by the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

In a letter Monday, Grassley asked U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan and the agency's acting inspector general, Michael P. Stephens, to independently examine whether PHA has violated the terms of its annual HUD funding agreement.

PHA receives most of its $400 million budget from HUD, under a 10-year contract known as a "Moving to Work" (MTW) agreement.

PHA's MTW budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 was recently approved by HUD.

Grassley also asked the chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, Earl E. Devaney, to hold hearings on PHA's use of $127 million in federal stimulus funds.

The PHA, the fourth-largest public-housing authority in the country, received one of the largest allocations of federal funds under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Grassley cited a recent audit by the HUD inspector general that uncovered problems with PHA's spending of $31 million in stimulus money to repair 340 scattered housing sites.

The Iowa Republican said the audit's findings were "extremely troubling and an affront to taxpayers."

Grassley said PHA and its outside legal counsel had continually obstructed the HUD Inspector General's Office.