Overview

Mention the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the word ""scandal"" comes to mind. Within recent history, the association is quite accurate; congressional panels have investigated ""abuses, favoritism, and mismanagement"" at HUD; at HUD's predecessor, the Federal Housing Administration, the FBI targeted the association for involvement in fraudulent home-improvement schemes; and HUD was scrutinized for lax lending standards, blatant over appraisals, and shoddy housing. In this groundbreaking volume, Irving Welfeld, a senior analyst with HUD, describes and explains these episodes as well as a series of hidden blunders that have cost taxpayers billions of dollars.In this thorough, firsthand account, Welfeld provides not only documented history, but analyses of events that arrive at different interpretations than Congress reached in its investigations. Throughout, his readings ask hard and probing questions: Where were the overseers - the media, Congress, the General Accounting Office, the Office of Management and Budget? To what extent is poor management the root cause of HUD's failures? Will tighter regulation help in keeping out corruption?After his comprehensive survey of the scene, Welfeld offers solutions: a set of programs that would minimize secrecy on the part of federal administrators and the temptation to abuse the public trust. Most importantly, the programs outlined here will enable HUD to more effectively fulfill its mission to see that there is decent affordable housing for all Americans. This book will be of interest to scholars of public administration, political scientists, and analysts of housing issues.

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9781412847810

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-[A] narrative history of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)... Recommended for libraries wanting specialized coverage on housing and HUD. Academic and large public library collections.- --E. C. Erickson, Choice -This volume examines seven scandals involving the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, from the 1950s investigations into the Section 608 rental housing program that allowed huge windfalls for developers to the administrative porkbarreling under HUD Secretary Pierce during the 1980s. After examining the individual scandals, Welfeld (a senior analyst at HUD) considers more general questions of oversight and management as they relate to failures at the Department.- --Book News -Irving Welfeld, an experienced analyst of housing policy, has undertaken the difficult job of finding out what went wrong in federal housing programs since World War II. . . . [H]e has designed a better housing program and he may be right.- --Roger Starr, former head New York Housing Authority -Must reading for anyone who cares about the housing crisis in our country.- --Barry Zigas, president, National Low Income Housing Coalition -[This book] should be required reading for every informed voter who wants to know not only about housing policy but also about how government policy is made and carried out, that is, how his tax dollars are spent.- --Sheldon L. Baskin, developer and attorney -The book is a joy to read. . . . It demonstrates that scholarship does not have to be dull to be revealing, and deal in the abstract to be insightful.- --Robert Haveman, University of Wisconsin, Madison -Welfeld is a provocatively original and shrewdly knowledgeable housing policy analyst.- --Hillbert Fefferman, consultant on HUD legislation [A] narrative history of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)... Recommended for libraries wanting specialized coverage on housing and HUD. Academic and large public library collections. --E. C. Erickson, Choice This volume examines seven scandals involving the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, from the 1950s investigations into the Section 608 rental housing program that allowed huge windfalls for developers to the administrative porkbarreling under HUD Secretary Pierce during the 1980s. After examining the individual scandals, Welfeld (a senior analyst at HUD) considers more general questions of oversight and management as they relate to failures at the Department. --Book News Irving Welfeld, an experienced analyst of housing policy, has undertaken the difficult job of finding out what went wrong in federal housing programs since World War II. . . . [H]e has designed a better housing program and he may be right. --Roger Starr, former head New York Housing Authority Must reading for anyone who cares about the housing crisis in our country. --Barry Zigas, president, National Low Income Housing Coalition [This book] should be required reading for every informed voter who wants to know not only about housing policy but also about how government policy is made and carried out, that is, how his tax dollars are spent. --Sheldon L. Baskin, developer and attorney The book is a joy to read. . . . It demonstrates that scholarship does not have to be dull to be revealing, and deal in the abstract to be insightful. --Robert Haveman, University of Wisconsin, Madison Welfeld is a provocatively original and shrewdly knowledgeable housing policy analyst. --Hillbert Fefferman, consultant on HUD legislation [A] narrative history of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)... Recommended for libraries wanting specialized coverage on housing and HUD. Academic and large public library collections. --E. C. Erickson, Choice This volume examines seven scandals involving the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, from the 1950s investigations into the Section 608 rental housing program that allowed huge windfalls for developers to the administrative porkbarreling under HUD Secretary Pierce during the 1980s. After examining the individual scandals, Welfeld (a senior analyst at HUD) considers more general questions of oversight and management as they relate to failures at the Department. --Book News Irving Welfeld, an experienced analyst of housing policy, has undertaken the difficult job of finding out what went wrong in federal housing programs since World War II. . . . [H]e has designed a better housing program and he may be right. --Roger Starr, former head New York Housing Authority Must reading for anyone who cares about the housing crisis in our country. --Barry Zigas, president, National Low Income Housing Coalition [This book] should be required reading for every informed voter who wants to know not only about housing policy but also about how government policy is made and carried out, that is, how his tax dollars are spent. --Sheldon L. Baskin, developer and attorney The book is a joy to read. . . . It demonstrates that scholarship does not have to be dull to be revealing, and deal in the abstract to be insightful. --Robert Haveman, University of Wisconsin, Madison Welfeld is a provocatively original and shrewdly knowledgeable housing policy analyst. --Hillbert Fefferman, consultant on HUD legislation Irving Welfeld, an experienced analyst of housing policy, has undertaken the difficult job of finding out what went wrong in federal housing programs since World War II. . . . [H]e has designed a better housing program and he may be right. --Roger Starr, former head New York Housing Authority Must reading for anyone who cares about the housing crisis in our country. --Barry Zigas, president, National Low Income Housing Coalition [This book] should be required reading for every informed voter who wants to know not only about housing policy but also about how government policy is made and carried out, that is, how his tax dollars are spent. --Sheldon L. Baskin, developer and attorney The book is a joy to read. . . . It demonstrates that scholarship does not have to be dull to be revealing, and deal in the abstract to be insightful. --Robert Haveman, University of Wisconsin, Madison Welfeld is a provocatively original and shrewdly knowledgeable housing policy analyst. --Hillbert Fefferman, consultant on HUD legislation

<p> [A] narrative history of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)... Recommended for libraries wanting specialized coverage on housing and HUD. Academic and large public library collections. <p> --E. C. Erickson, Choice <p> Irving Welfeld, an experienced analyst of housing policy, has undertaken the difficult job of finding out what went wrong in federal housing programs since World War II. . . . [H]e has designed a better housing program and he may be right. <p> --Roger Starr, former head New York Housing Authority <p> Must reading for anyone who cares about the housing crisis in our country. <p> --Barry Zigas, president, National Low Income Housing Coalition <p> [This book] should be required reading for every informed voter who wants to know not only about housing policy but also about how government policy is made and carried out, that is, how his tax dollars are spent. <p> --Sheldon L. Baskin, developer and attorney <p> The book is a joy to read. . . . It demonstrates that scholarship does not have to be dull to be revealing, and deal in the abstract to be insightful. <p> --Robert Haveman, University of Wisconsin, Madison <p> Welfeld is a provocatively original and shrewdly knowledgeable housing policy analyst. <p> --Hillbert Fefferman, consultant on HUD legislation

<p> [A] narrative history of the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)... Recommended for libraries wanting specialized coverage on housing and HUD. Academic and large public library collections. <p> --E. C. Erickson, Choice <p> This volume examines seven scandals involving the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, from the 1950s investigations into the Section 608 rental housing program that allowed huge windfalls for developers to the administrative porkbarreling under HUD Secretary Pierce during the 1980s. After examining the individual scandals, Welfeld (a senior analyst at HUD) considers more general questions of oversight and management as they relate to failures at the Department. <p> --Book News <p> Irving Welfeld, an experienced analyst of housing policy, has undertaken the difficult job of finding out what went wrong in federal housing programs since World War II. . . . [H]e has designed a better housing program and he may be right. <p> --Roger Starr, former head New York Housing Authority <p> Must reading for anyone who cares about the housing crisis in our country. <p> --Barry Zigas, president, National Low Income Housing Coalition <p> [This book] should be required reading for every informed voter who wants to know not only about housing policy but also about how government policy is made and carried out, that is, how his tax dollars are spent. <p> --Sheldon L. Baskin, developer and attorney <p> The book is a joy to read. . . . It demonstrates that scholarship does not have to be dull to be revealing, and deal in the abstract to be insightful. <p> --Robert Haveman, University of Wisconsin, Madison <p> Welfeld is a provocatively original and shrewdly knowledgeable housing policy analyst. <p> --Hillbert Fefferman, consultant on HUD legislation

Author Information

Irving Welfeld is a senior analyst at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and formerly served as an attorney in the department's Office of the General Counsel. He is the author of America's Housing Problem, European Housing Subsidiary Systems, Where We Live, and numerous articles that have appeared in law, public policy, and housing journals.

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