On Friday (8/1), the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS), under the guidance of its own DHS Office of Inspector General (OIG), moved to terminate the Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) program. In a letter sent Friday from DHS Temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), DHS requested the unprecedented step of ending the Minnesota program.

“DHS is rooting out fraud wherever we find it. We cannot allow one more cent of taxpayer money going out the door to providers who claim to serve Minnesotans in need of stable housing while lining their pockets for personal gain,” said DHS Temporary Commissioner Shireen Gandhi. “As I made clear in my letter to CMS, our own data analysis has shown that this program does not have the necessary controls to stop bad actors, and we are urging CMS to approve our request to end this program as swiftly as possible.”

DHS intends to redesign and relaunch the benefit. Toward that effort, DHS will work with the legislature, providers, community partners, and CMS to fully redesign the program with robust program integrity and service quality requirements to prevent bad actors from entering the program and enhance care. Once that work is complete, DHS will then work with CMS to submit a new program framework for approval.