At nearly $2 billion a year, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's HOME Investment Partnerships Program for the last two decades has produced housing for low-income households in the form of block grants to state and local government agencies. Yet a growing number of critics say its main legacy is a long trail of unfulfilled promises. The Washington Post once again has provided fuel for this view. A month ago the paper published a follow-up article to a lengthy May expose, revealing that about 75 projects have spent a combined $40 million "with little or nothing built." This is on top of the roughly 700 projects receiving $400 million in federal subsidies that the Post earlier identified as delayed or abandoned. HUD once again is insisting that HOME overall is a success. And Congress once again, justifiably, is highly skeptical.
Illinois Republican Rep. Judy Biggert on Wednesday inserted into the financial regulatory reform bill an amendment calling for an investigation of efforts to rescue 
Congressman Spencer Bachus of Alabama must feel like he’s experiencing déjà vu all over again.
