Today, the Minnesota Department of Human Services announced that it would begin terminating the Housing Stabilization Services Program in Minnesota due to rampant fraud. DHS Inspector General James Clark said, "As our OIG data and investigations have revealed, too many fraudulent, unqualified bad actors have likely stolen money from our state’s taxpayers, and also cheated Minnesotans who need housing services."
In response to this announcement, Representative Kristin Robbins (R-Maple Grove), Chair of the House Fraud Prevention and State Agency Oversight Policy Committee, released the following statement:
“The Department of Human Services’ decision to terminate the Housing Stabilization Services program is a stunning admission of just how deeply broken this program has become under the Walz administration’s watch. This was a program initially expected to cost taxpayers just $2.6 million a year, yet it ballooned to over $100 million, with fraud so rampant that the agency now admits it cannot guarantee basic program integrity.
Since the Fraud Committee started hearings last winter, I’ve raised serious concerns about DHS’s lack of internal controls and its repeated failure to provide basic due diligence and oversight. This decision only strengthens the need for a federal audit of DHS. We sounded the alarm early, and sadly, those warnings were not heeded until millions had already been stolen.
The shutdown of this program confirms what we feared all along: this fraud goes far deeper than the few raids and arrests made public so far. DHS has failed in its duty to protect taxpayers and vulnerable Minnesotans, and there must be full accountability for the mismanagement that allowed this to happen.
Our committee will continue demanding transparency and pushing for accountability across all state agencies. Minnesotans deserve a government that safeguards both their tax dollars and their trust.”
###