PHA diverted landlord fees to a nonprofit with a lobbying fund

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

Since early 2008, the Philadelphia Housing Authority has demanded that hundreds of landlords participating in a subsidized housing program pay $200 each to an affiliated nonprofit agency - the Pennsylvania Institute for Affordable Housing Professionals.

The fee was supposed to cover the cost of a mandatory one-day course on being a good landlord.

But apparently none of the $300,000 paid by 1,500 landlords was spent on instruction, documents and interviews show.

Instead, the institute deposited half the money in a lobbying fund and put the rest in a "general account," which was drawn on to pay for PHA employee outings and a variety of other activities.

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed the institute's records as part of a wide-ranging investigation of PHA's operations.

The altruism of the "public sector".