The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, recently released a report aptly titled HURRICANES KATRINA AND RITA DISASTER RELIEF: Continued Findings of Fraud, Waste and Abuse outlining both the sheer volume of improper payments made through FEMA’s Individuals and Households Program (IHP), as well as FEMA’s inability to recover these lost funds.
According to the report:
GAO previously estimated improper and potentially fraudulent payments related to the IHP application process to be $1 billion through February 2006. As of November 2006, FEMA identified about $290 million in overpayments and collected about $7 million.
The types of fraud involved in the IHP program are numerous, and include rental assistance given to individuals already provided with free housing, duplicate payments to individuals who claimed damage to the same property from both Hurricane Katrina and Rita, and payments made to ineligible non-U.S. residents who provided documentation indicating they did not qualify.
The findings outlined in this new report support the concerns raised by POGO throughout FEMA’s relief and reconstruction efforts. FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security need to exercise greater control over Hurricane relief programs and Congress needs to provide greater oversight to make sure billions more aren’t wasted.
-- Caleb Rowe
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