Watchdog uncovers even more problems with the government's Puerto Rico relief efforts


The Department of Housing and Urban Development has attracted controversy for its supposed mishandling of Puerto Rico disaster relief after Hurricane Maria. Yet the department's top watchdog says it has faced trouble dissecting just how far that mishandling extends.
In a letter to HUD Secretary Ben Carson sent Monday, the department's inspector general said "delayed access to departmental records" has caused major delays in her own oversight efforts. Her attempts to probe HUD's Puerto Rico handling have since "diluted, become stale, or worse, halt[ed] entirely," Inspector General Rae Oliver Davis wrote in the letter obtained by The Washington Post.
As Oliver Davis cited in her letter, "average wait time for HUD electronic records has increased from approximately 95 calendar days in 2017 to 151 calendar days in 2018," the Post writes. Throughout 2018, in fact, 20 requests for records actually took over six months to be answered, the letter said. And when government watchdogs can't access that information, it stops the inspector general's office from completing "its statutory mission to detect and prevent fraud, waste, and abuse," Oliver Davis continued.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
This isn't the inspector general's first crackdown on supposed HUD incompetence. In a December 2017 letter, the inspector general's office said HUD's response times “fail to comply with the law requiring timely OIG access to all department information.”
Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico in September 2017, but recovery efforts are far from over, and a disaster relief funding bill that would benefit the island continues to stall in the Senate. Read more about the HUD's oversight woes at The Washington Post.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
An introvert's dream? Flu camps that offer £4,400 to spend two weeks alone
Under The Radar A fortnight in isolation may not be as blissful as it sounds
-
Can Trump put his tariffs on stronger legal footing?
Today's Big Question Appeals court says 'emergency' tariffs are improper
-
Film reviews: The Roses, Splitsville, and Twinless
Feature A happy union devolves into domestic warfare, a couple's open marriage reaps chaos, and an unlikely friendship takes surprising turns
-
US kills 11 on 'drug-carrying boat' off Venezuela
Speed Read Trump claimed those killed in the strike were 'positively identified Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists' shipping drugs to the US
-
Trump vows to send federal forces to Chicago, Baltimore
Speed Read The announcement followed a California judge ruling that Trump's LA troop deployment was illegal
-
Trump crypto token launch earns family billions
Speed Read The World Liberty Financial token is now the Trump family's 'most valuable asset'
-
RFK Jr. names new CDC head as staff revolt
Speed Read Kennedy installed his deputy, Jim O'Neill, as acting CDC director
-
DC prosecutors lose bid to indict sandwich thrower
Speed Read Prosecutors sought to charge Sean Dunn with assaulting a federal officer
-
White House fires new CDC head amid agency exodus
Speed Read CDC Director Susan Monarez was ousted after butting heads with HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over vaccines
-
DOGE put Social Security data at risk, official says
Speed Read DOGE workers made the personal information of hundreds of millions of Americans vulnerable to identity theft
-
Court rejects Trump suit against Maryland US judges
Speed Read Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee, said the executive branch had no authority to sue the judges