St. Paul woman facing homelessness after housing program accused of fraud

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A St. Paul woman is facing homelessness after a state program designed to help disabled tenants was hit with "credible allegations of fraud."

St. Paul woman fears becoming homeless – again

What we know:

The woman, who did not want to be identified due to the personal nature of her ordeal, said she found her downtown apartment via Housing Stabilization Services – a program the state shut down in August after the FBI raided multiple properties as part of a wide-ranging fraud investigation.

In the case, eight suspects have been charged with federal crimes, and prosecutors said they expect to charge additional suspects.

Another state housing program, Integrated Community Supports, provided the woman with housing services. But when that program became the target of fraud allegations in September, the Minnesota Department of Human Services stopped paying 11 providers.

Now, the woman must find another place to live. She said she will likely end up homeless – again.
Audits preceded funding pull, provider says

What they're saying:

"For three years now, I have been grounded, and life was finally feeling very comfortable and normal, and now it’s thrown back out on the street and homeless again," she told FOX 9. "Zero compassion, zero consideration, zero thought. And it is – the human cost is huge. It’s huge, and this time it’s my life."

She explained that the state stopped paying her provider after he underwent a series of audits.

"He did say that he had been audited six times in the last two years, which is beyond excessive, and that nothing was ever found in all of those six times and yet funding was pulled while the DHS memo that they put out said, ‘If you can provide proof there’s no fraud, we will reinstate your funding,’ which has yet to happen for him," she says.

In a phone interview on Friday, her provider, Jama Mahamod, who operated St. Paul-based American Home Health Care, confirmed that he was audited multiple times before the state stopped paying him.

He said he had no choice but to evict his four tenants, and he closed his business after the state stopped paying him in September. He denies any wrongdoing.

DHS explains how housing program works

Dig deeper:

In a statement on Friday, DHS said, in part: "Integrated Community Supports (ICS) is a home and community-based service that provides personal care, household management support and training to clients living in apartment or multi-housing units that the service provider owns, operates, or leases. Housing costs or rent is separate from and not included in the ICS service. The type and amount of services a person receives depends on the person’s specific assessed areas of need, as documented by the case manager in the person-centered support plan."