The U.S. Treasury Department will investigate whether Florida squandered money sent to the state as part of the Hardest Hit mortgage assistance program, following a newspaper story that reported on homeowners with questionable backgrounds getting some of the money.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Democrat, had asked Treasury to look into the allegations after the Tampa Bay Times report.
“We share in your desire to bring more transparency to [ the mortgage-assistance program ] and note the importance of your concerns,” Special Inspector General Christy L. Romero wrote in a response to Nelson.
State officials had responded last month that they were working “tirelessly” to hand out federal assistance to distressed homeowners under the program.
Florida Housing Finance Corp. Executive director Steve Auger has denied the report that the Hardest Hit program had given money to ineligible people, and said audits of the program had convinced state officials of the approach they were taking to try to distribute the money.
Auger has also said he expects the money to be fully and properly spent by the Dec. 31, 2017 deadline.
