[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 94 (Tuesday, July 19, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: July 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                      AN AGENCY BEYOND REDEMPTION

                                 ______


                           HON. DOUG BEREUTER

                              of nebraska

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 19, 1994

  Mr. BEREUTER. Mr. Speaker, this Member would like to commend to his 
colleagues the following editorial from the July 16, 1994, Washington 
Post, concerning the continuing corruption and scandal surrounding the 
District of Columbia's Department of Public and Assisted Housing.
  Both daily newspapers in the city have condemned this mismanagement, 
corruption and betrayal of the District's citizens by this agency. As 
the Post editorial makes clear, the existing joint effort between HUD 
and Mayor Kelly has done little to end the mismanagement at this 
agency. There is no excuse for tax dollars being spent to send DPAH 
staff to a conference in Puerto Rico when citizens of the District are 
living in substandard housing or worse, on the streets. This is further 
shameful proof that neither HUD nor the District can solve DPAH's 
problems. This Member again urges Judge Steffan Graae to place the 
District's public housing authority in receivership as recommended by 
James Stockard, the special master appointed by the court. Action must 
be taken now before further abuses occur.

               [From the Washington Post, July 16, 1994]

                      An Agency Beyond Redemption

       We were coming around to the view that placing the city's 
     fouled-up housing department under control of a court-
     appointed receiver was a bad idea. But after learning that 
     the D.C. Department of Public and Assisted Housing--an agency 
     faced with cost overruns, thousands of tenants living in 
     disgusting conditions and a mile-long public housing waiting 
     list--recently sent four staff members and four tenants on an 
     all-expense-paid junket to Puerto Rico, we think the 
     receivership advocates may be on to something after all.
       Finding the right word to describe this latest escapade 
     isn't easy. Witless, absurd, imprudent, irresponsible and 
     stupid come to mind. By what rationale or sequence of 
     thoughts could leaders of the officially designated worst 
     public housing system in the nation decide to send a city 
     delegation on a four-night trip to a 17-acre beachfront 
     resort while the District is running out of money and public 
     housing tenants must make do with backed-up toilets, 
     crumbling ceilings and roaches galore? But then, come to 
     think of it, why expect DPAH to give its tenants any thought? 
     This is the same department that spawned the bribes-for-rent-
     vouchers scandal and that, with conditions deteriorating in 
     the projects, spent $1.3 million on renovations and furniture 
     for DPAH's headquarters, including $100,000 to spiff up 
     several executive office suites. This latest escapade 
     suggests that DPAH, as now constituted, is beyond redemption.
       It makes matter worse that the U.S. Department of Housing 
     and Urban Development, which scored DPAH at the bottom of its 
     list of the nation's bad housing systems, reportedly gave the 
     junket idea to DPAH. Puerto Rico's housing department, which 
     shares space with the District on the HUD list, hardly seems 
     the best choice of role models. As for the tour's usefulness, 
     one junketeer said only parts of a workshop she attended were 
     translated from Spanish to English. So she did the next best 
     thing: She spent the afternoon on the beach.
       It was only a few weeks ago that HUD and Mayor Kelly 
     assumed significant direct control over the chronically 
     troubled DPAH to stave off a takeover by the court. If 
     housing conferences represent the kind of ideas HUD is 
     bringing to the table, D.C. Superior Court Judge Steffen 
     Graae should gear up for action. A DPAH official said the 
     agency intends to dispatch a delegation to another conference 
     in Dallas next month.

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