Michael A. Brown Wants Housing Department Investigated

By Benjamin R. Freed on Jan 28, 2012

11.05.2009_brown.jpg
Brown
In a press release Saturday afternoon, Councilmember Michael A. Brown (I-At Large) called for an investigation into the District Department of Housing and Community Development to determine if there has been any "unethical behavior and possible criminal malfeasance and collusion between contractors and current and former employees."

The impetus for the inquiry appears to be the youth outreach group Peaceoholics and its purchase of a 13-unit apartment building in Congress Heights, which was facilitated by a $4.4 million loan from the housing agency. A year after Peaceoholics fixed up the building at 1300 Congress Street SE, it remains uninhabited, as do other properties the group renovated. Brown, who chairs the D.C. Council panel that oversees DHCD, says in the release he began looking into the goings-on at DCHD since last year.

Both of Peaceoholics' founders are running for seats on the Council this year. Ron Moten, an ally of former Mayor Adrian Fenty, is running as a Republican in Ward 7, while Jauhar Abraham is running in Ward 8. Abraham, the City Paper's Alan Suderman reports, "says he didn't do anything wrong on the Congress Heights deal and he didn't witness any type of wrongdoing by DHCD employees on that transaction either."

Full text of Brown's announcement:

I am deeply concerned by evidence that has been uncovered pointing to unethical behavior and possible criminal malfeasance and collusion between contractors and current and former employees of the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

Through my role as the Chair of the Council's Committee on Housing and Workforce Development, on Monday July 12, 2010, I convened a public oversight roundtable on the "Peaceoholics Construction Project at 1300 Congress Street SE". This roundtable was held to determine the circumstances that led the previous administration to award the Peaceoholics more than $4.4 million to acquire and rehabilitate several properties including the Congress Street site. The information provided from the roundtable left many questions unanswered, especially in relation to entities with little or no housing experience receiving these District housing funds. Despite additional inquires; these unanswered questions were never adequately addressed by the previous leadership of DHCD.

More recently, the current DHCD leadership has become a willing partner, and in cooperation with recommendations from my office, has instituted more stringent quality controls in the awarding of funds. Also, at my request, the DHCD has conducted new reviews of existing projects that are currently being funded. This review has uncovered evidence, we expect, will show the brazen abuse of authority from multiple employees at the agency to financially enrich themselves and outside entities. We believe this investigation has prompted administrative action against one high level DHCD employee yesterday and we expect additional personal actions to follow.

This alleged malfeasance by District government employees and the repeated instances of certain outside individuals and entities have surfaced on numerous property records dealing with land transfers. These property records show that certain individuals and entities have repeated appeared in several questionable sales, purchases and land transfers, including the 1300 Congress Street SE property.

This troubling situation has spurred me and Councilmember Jim Graham, who has also examined this issue, to request the Inspector General and the Attorney General to launch immediate investigations into this matter.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@dcist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

Filed in and tagged , , ,

Comments [rss]

  • The common theme with all groups involved is the we didn't do anything wrong premise.  That organization was inexperienced, greedy, and they lack common sense so dchd was aware of this.  If you don't have experience in real estate or in handling large amounts of money. Doesnt it make sense to hire people who are experts and to do some background checks on your own.  What is a lack of common sense is Pecaholics not even knowing to keep their own copies of receipts, and they could have done a simple google and court search on the people they hired such as hagler.  All they saw was the money and thus they danced and shuffled at what anyone told them.  Makes complete sense why their business failed, they couldn't account for anything, with any grant or money they had access to. They are not smart, strategic businessmen, and Fenty and dchd was aware of this.
  • Over the River
    Maybe we could call a contest and they all could investigate each other. Hopefully in the end no one is left.
  • HillmanDC
    This would have way more legitimacy if these chaps weren't Brown's political rivals.

    Having said that, I have no problem believing the allegations against them.
  • Ollie Pooeater
    Oh, come on.

    This is the same slimebag accusation style that Gray and his cronies used, in conjunction with the Washington Post and this blog, to tar Fenty. Remember firetruck gate? Turned out to be a completely useless firetruck. However, it was highly effective to launch an investigation in the midst of an election that was timed to have it's conclusions reported after the election had been decided. He's assuming DC voters are stupid and this and his gambling legislation shows how little he thinks of us.

    The sickening thing is how inbred and mutually supporting the Gray faction of the Council is. I suppose this is an attempt to blunt the ramifications of Yvette's misuse of CSFs on wholly inappropriate rent charges in a developer's property.

    I'm sure this "investigation" will be timed to have the conclusions released a few weeks after the election has been certified. That allows everyone to whisper about it the whole time, without any accusations ever being proven.
  • Ollie Pooeater
    The only interesting thing from the standpoint of this blog is that now the tagline is Ben and not Martin. I suppose now Ben can use the "I'm only reporting the news" excuse that ran so dry with Martin.
  • Any chance we can stick Michael Brown, Ron Moten, and his erection in a gently used ambulance, fuel it up with Peaceahol and send it on a one-way trip to Sosua?
  • D_Rez
    This is the same Michael Brown that's mostly known for slipping gambling provisions into unrelated bills (while working for lawfirms representing gambling interests) and naming streets after his father?
    Right...
  • exactly. he's the last person to be preaching about proper, ethical government.
  • DCTransplant
    Not there is a shortage of things to investigate, but wouldn't it be awesome* if we're here a couple years from now discussing an investigation into Brown's iGambling involvement?

    * by awesome I mean sad.
  • D_Rez
    It would be even more awesome* if we were sitting here in a few months Disqus-ing an USAO investigation into the lottery and iGambling.
    *by awesome I mean awesome.
    So many dishonest tools. It's hard to know where to start. Grab a thread and start pulling, I guess.
  • Shiba Fussa
    If they said there was no wrong doing then there wasn't, lets move on and stop wasting time and money...
  • poopieface
    The building is unoccupied because no one wants to live in Congress heights.
  • Over the River
    1. Thank you Mr. Brown
    2. Ah, DC.
blog comments powered by Disqus