NEW: HUD Hires $375,000 Consulting Team for PEDP
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is bringing in a $375,000 “technical assistance team” to consult with the Providence Economic Development Partnership (PEDP) as it develops the appropriate policies and procedures required for recipients of federal funds, Stuart MacDonald, the quasi-public agency’s assistant director, said during a board meeting Tuesday.
“Policies and procedures were in place, they just weren’t documented,” MacDonald said.
The board meeting was called to address what Mayor Angel Taveras called “serious issues” raised in a HUD report earlier this year. HUD cited the city for a lack of “adequate oversight” over the agency, which ran up an “approximately 60 percent” default rate from 2001 to 2011. The board approved a corrective action plan, but it remains unclear whether the PEDP will be expected to reimburse HUD for questionable administrative expenses.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTMacDonald said the technical assistance team work with the PEDP for between 1,500 and 1,800 man hours to help address the program’s deficiencies.
As of Oct. 16, one in three PEDP loans worth more than $1.2 million were in default.
Dan McGowan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @danmcgowan.
