HUD's System for Processing Public Records Requests Died During the Shutdown

The contract for the agency’s electronic system for managing FOIA requests lapsed in early January and hasn’t been renewed. Delays are mounting.
by Molly Parker, The Southern Illinoisan Feb. 13, 5 a.m. EST

This article was produced in partnership with The Southern Illinoisan, a member of the ProPublica Local Reporting Network in 2018.

The partial federal shutdown ended weeks ago, but one lingering effect turns out to be citizens’ ability to get public records from a government agency.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s public records management and tracking system has been offline since early January, when a contract to run it lapsed.

Four Freedom of Information Act officers at HUD said the lack of a system has drastically slowed their ability to process requests and has presented challenges in tracking the dozens of them the agency receives each week.

Members of the public can no longer submit requests via HUD’s website or track their status. Late last week, the agency updated its website to include new instructions for filing a FOIA request via email, fax or mail.

https://www.propublica.org/article/hud-system-for-processing-public-records-requests-died-during-the-shutdown

AND who is in charge of HUD, you got it that fun loving rascal Ben Carson, the same "guy" that bought on the taxpayer doles a $35,000 dollar table, and who also likes to schmooze with known Russian agents............................

https://thinkprogress.org/why-was-ben-carson-hanging-out-with-the-employee-of-this-sanctioned-russian-oligarch-konstantin-malofeev-alexey-komov-bdb4cd383eaa/