HUD To Receive “Painful” Budget Cut

The New York Times (4/14, Lichtblau, Nixon, Subscription Publication, 950K) reports mortgage fraud has recently garnered much attention, but recently released details of the 2012 budget show the demise of a $20 million project newly instated by HUD to decrease mortgage fraud. The Times writes that cut “was just one of hundreds of budget reductions to emerge Wednesday, as agencies… scoured the fine print of the 459-page budget to determine which cuts would hurt the most.” HUD’s Jerry Brown said “It’s a painful cut,” noting the significance of mortgage fraud at the department, and saying “we’re just going to have to find other ways of doing it.” Kathleen Day of for the Center for Responsible Lending “said such a cut appears shortsighted and reckless given the damage done by fraudulent mortgages and the potential losses to taxpayers. ‘You might save $20 million in the short run…but you lose a lot more in the long run.’”