Scott Powers
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Thursday asked the U.S. Department of the Treasury to “take a deeper” look at how Florida is managing a federal program to help homeowners hit by mortgage foreclosures.
Nelson is responding to stories that appeared in the Tampa Bay Times, which reported last week the state has used the federal fund to help fewer than a quarter of the more than 100,000 people who’ve applied for help.
The Treasury Department created the Hardest Hit Fund, a mortgage assistance program in 2010 to help those facing foreclosure keep their homes. Florida’s allocation is about $1 billion.
Nelson had previously sought a Treasury Department investigation in 2013 after the paper previously reported a slow and problematic rollout of mortgage assistance by Florida officials.
In a letter Thursday to U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, Nelson said there “appears to be continued mismanagement” of the program even though federal officials made a number of recommendations on how Florida could improve the program rollout after Nelson’s first request for an investigation.
The paper’s reporting also brought up some other concerns about Florida’s handling of the program, including that people with felony records for fraud had received assistance while hundreds of thousands of other Florida applicants had not. The paper also reported that Gov. Rick Scott restricted efforts to publicize the program and was instrumental in cutting aid amounts, Nelson wrote to Lew.
The governor’s office was not immediately prepared to respond Thursday afternoon.
“In light of this report, and what appears to be continued mismanagement of this program, I’m asking that you take a deeper look into whether the state is doing everything it can to meet the needs of all Floridians eligible to receive this assistance and offer guidance as needed,” Nelson wrote.
