Chicago On The Mississippi
By Mitch Berg
The news broke last week – the Department of Human Services tanked its “Housing Stabilization Services” program before the Feds could start digging into it.
Not that there’s not gonna be some digging anyway. Joe Thompson, the acting US Attorney for Minnesota, is finding a prosecutorial “targret rich environment”:
We welcome today’s news. Fraud has been eating away at Minnesota’s public programs for years, costing taxpayers billions. Ending the Housing Stabilization Services program cuts off a major source of abuse, but this is just the beginning. The fight against fraud continues, and a broader reckoning is long overdue.
“What” your ELCU-haired sister in law might exclaim, “they’re taking housing from people?”
No, not really. Bill Glahn explains:
Don’t be confused. HSS doesn’t provide actual housing or anything else that would be considered useful. Instead, the program, operated by the state Dept. of Human Services (DHS), offers counseling services to Medicaid program participants.
Actually, it doesn’t do that either, as Thompson has documented. The “vast majority” of the $100 million in annual spending (of taxpayer funds) goes to outright fraud.
Today, state DHS took the correct step to shut down the program entirely, you can read their letter to the U.S. Medicaid office here. The Minnesota Star Tribune has a report on this major development,
“Vast majority”.
Not a skim of fthe top.
Not 10% for the big guy.
Vast. Majority.
If Trump does nothing else in office, turning a firehose on the State of Minnesota will make this next 3.5 years a wonderful thing.
August 4th, 2025 at 6:40 am
Anyone remember when The Union Gospel Mission gave bums a bed for the price of listening to a half-hour sermon?
or how about this?
August 4th, 2025 at 7:23 am
A billion dollars in fraud. Somehow, I don’t think the actual amount matters in the least to metro area voters. Here’s some at a protest yesterday.
https://xcancel.com/sav_says_/status/1952106927561048296#m
August 4th, 2025 at 9:24 am
jdm, those weirdos need to be charged with watermelon abuse.
VEGETABLES ARE PEOPLE TOO!!
August 4th, 2025 at 10:04 am
people make the mistake of thinking the grift/fraud is recent in origin – its not, only the scale has changed.
grifting the government was/is the Somali culture and the family business for Omar’s clan back in Somalia – they brought that particular expertise with them when they landed in MN in the 1990s. The somali community has been working these frauds ever since: Walz & Ellison have just facilitated it!
August 4th, 2025 at 12:02 pm
We could “blame the Somalis”, but as someone who helps handle purchases where I work, it looks like what’s going on is that providers are not being vetted, and invoices are not being scrutinized. That one is not on the Omars and Abdul-Rachmans, but on the Larsons and Petersens that created the culture in HHS, more or less “trust but don’t verify”.
August 4th, 2025 at 2:51 pm
You beat me to it, Pig.
I have a couple of Somali customers that are disgusted by the fraud, because it reflects badly on all of them. Most of them are angry at Ilhan for the same reasons, but also, she’s violating Sharia law. They also tell me that very few Somalis voted for her. It was all of the life long DemoCommies with white guilt that got her elected.