Posted on 09/12/2014 11:02:36 AM PDT by upbeat5
TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The federal government wasted millions of dollars in building a housing project for Border Patrol agents in Arizona near the Mexican border, spending nearly $700,000 per house in a small town where the average home costs less than $90,000, a watchdog report found.
The analysis by the Department of Homeland Security's inspector general found that U.S. Customs and Border Protection overspent by about $4.6 million on new houses and mobile homes in the small town of Ajo southwest of Phoenix. The agency has spent about $17 million for land, 21 two- and three-bedroom houses and 20 mobile homes. Construction was completed in December 2012.
Customs and Border Protection paid about $680,000 per house and about $118,000 per mobile home, according to the report. The average home cost in Ajo is $86,500.
(Excerpt) Read more at home.cableone.net ...
huh??? since when does the goverment get involved in this? did they build these to SELL to the employees (when they can buy local for many times less), or are the employees allowed to live in them for a subsidized or free rent?
Ajo is the pits. My son was stationed there with the Border Patrol. Awful housing, nasty sub-standard stuff that was demanding top dollar because there was no place else to go. Phoenix was an hour and a half away, Tucson even further.
After the copper mine closed the town just died.
About 5-yrs ago I speak with a developer about Ajo, saying the station was going to grow from 75 Agents to about 400 within the next few years. The hosing shortage would be severe and he could make a killing building units there for the Agents and their families. He said, nah, Ajo was too remote.
Agents leaving Ajo, leaving the BP because of the housing situation. . .well before the most recent nonsense. Problem is not building housing but the cost. . .typical government inflation and I suspect more than a little corruption, as the town is basically half BP Agents and the other half are drug smugglers.
Interesting, how wonderful now they can give those homes to the new illegal obamavoter base.
huh??? since when does the goverment get involved in this?
...
It gets involved when politicians have cronies who build houses.
the DHs is run like the freaking military with barrack choice facilities. it is disgusting.
Wonder who the Bundler/Contractor was?
Left out of the story are some critical facts.
What other housing was actually available?
Was this a run down community?
Is it reasoned to compare vastly inferior homes to new modern dwellings?
Were these homes gifted to agents?
Were the homes only meant to be used temporarily while agents were on assignment there?
Some of these watch-dog agencies provide a good service.
Others can actually game a subject to convince people they need to be given donation funds to keep the operation going.
I’d have to see a lot more before I bought into this completely.
I support the individual immigration agents, which is a lot more than I can say for our government. I’m not quite buying into the idea the government is lavishing gifts on agents they don’t support any other way.
You could probably buy Ajo for 700K.
Lotta people here have no idea just how down and out that joint is.
Only saving grace is they didn’t end up in Lukeville.
...and owned a lot of the land there!
The town gets its name from the large open mine and all the ajos that live there.
In the 1990’s, the government built new housing on Fort Riley. They cost around 80% more than normal.
Why?
Metric.
Yes, metric. Metric lumber. I always wondered which congressman’s brother in law milled lumber to metric dimensions.
And all that stuff carpenters intuitively know about stud spacing, rough ins, etc. They don’t work quite as fast in metric.
Which Obama, Reid crony or Democratic Party donors got the money?
“What other housing was actually available?”
Very old run-down ‘homes’ that would fit in nicely in a Detroit ghetto. http://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sale/Ajo-AZ/37066_rid/32.705267,-112.380524,31.776045,-113.487396_rect/8_zm/1_fr/
“Was this a run down community?”
The absolute worst place. Nothing that would qualify it as a town. No shopping other than a small ‘local’ grocery where getting fresh veggies is unheard of—seriously. Two restaurants; one that barely passes (and sometimes not) health inspections, the other for the druggies and it is closed most of the time.
No shops, no where to go to buy underwear, let alone anything of any value—Ajo does not even have a Walmart or KMart, nothing.
“Is it reasoned to compare vastly inferior homes to new modern dwellings?”
Not sure what this question means. Go to the link above and browse what’s out there for the Agents and their families. MOST Agents with families will do the hour and a half commute (one way) from Phoenix because they have families to take care of and dragging them to Ajo is bad enough, but then to put them into nasty house in a town where in the local school they teach in spanish and the student population are spawn of the drug smugglers, and everyone knows who you are and your family. Safer to be in a cluster og homes, surrounded by other BP Agents and their families. Safety is very important.
“Were these homes gifted to agents?”
No.
“Were the homes only meant to be used temporarily while agents were on assignment there?”
No. These are permanent homes, and with the BP, once an Agent is assigned to a station that is where he will stay. . .seriously, there are no rotations, no re-assignments, nothing. . .you are there forever unless you promote to a supervisor and even then, you go where there are open supervisor slots and the primo stations rarely have openings because no one wants to move from there, and when an opening does occur, then only the most senior Agents have a shot. . .meaning those with 15-yrs in or more. So. . .get assigned to AJO, it is your home for 15yrs or more.
I wouldn’t live in one of those things, even if it was free.
I have a chicken shed that looks better than those cartoon looking structures.
As someone who works with private land developers/contractors/builders all the time, I’ve seen the real sharp ones and the ones that don’t have a clue. The sharp ones know how to make money and the dumb ones are lucky to break even.
Me thinks Uncle Sam would be considered a moronic one. First problem I saw is that they hired an architectural firm, instead using simple standard house plans. That little subdivision infrastructure cost should have been about $500,000 +/-, but by the time they got through all of their own federal spending requirements, environmental studies, cultural impact studies, environmental justice studies (that’s where they study the impacts of the project on the low income and minority communities like how it may effect their cultural celebrations) and then paid top dollar to the contractors to bring in the materials and labor to a remote location I’m sure it exceeded $2 million! Then they paid fair market value to the land owner which really has nothing to do with market value I’m sure that they paid triple the cost!
He’ll I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually purchased all the construction equipment for the contractor to save money by not having to pay them mobilization to show up and then turned around and gave it to him when they were done!
Is this some McCain pork we are seeing? That would be very ugly.
Is that really a picture of the $680,000 houses? If so, my house is worth at least $4 or $5 mil.
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