About $10 billion of the $862 billion “stimulus” that Democrats in Congress unwisely approved in 2009 went to a program to provide loans for home purchases in rural areas.
Now, as with other parts of the stimulus, we learn that the rural-home program has been a case study in waste and abuse.
About $4 billion of the “stimulus” funds set aside for rural-home purchases is believed to have been lent to people who were not eligible. All told, more than one-third of the borrowers probably were not eligible, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s inspector general.
Some borrowers had income above the prescribed limit. Some could readily have secured traditional loans on their own but chose to get government loans instead. Some already owned homes and thus should have been declared ineligible.
Just as troubling, some of the presumably “low-income” borrowers used the loans to buy homes equipped with swimming pools! That was supposed to be strictly against the rules. But as with other aspects of the stimulus, the “rules” seem rather “fluid” – or simply are not being enforced.