Yet another sign of the potential for corruption in the $2.4 billion New York City spends each year housing the homeless, meet Jocelyn Carter.
Carter landed a top job with homeless services in the Blasio years and appears to be violating the city’s conflict of interest law. Her sister’s company has won 17 contracts with the agency worth $1.7 billion, according to the City Comptroller’s Office.
The sister, Valerie Smith, is vice president of housing programs in New York City for Yonkers-based Westhab Inc., which runs homeless shelters in the city. Even if she got the job after Carter’s promotion, the alarm should have gone off.
But much doubt arose when the city’s homeless spending boomed in the Blasio years under Commissioner Steven Banks, opening the door to rogue social service providers and shelters.
The arrest of the CEO of the city’s largest shelter provider for bribery was a clue; the pals-on-the-payroll scandal at another non-profit, another. The Post identified dozens of suspicious schemes.
And now the city is spending $4.6 million a day housing and feeding illegal migrants, which opens up many more opportunities for insider trading.
Heck, even the nepotistic angle with the Carter-Smith sisters isn’t unique: Comptroller Brad Lander’s office, who filed the matter, reviews city contracts with dozens of nonprofits affiliated with a group led by his wife Meg Barnette .
With only 8 million inhabitants, New York City’s budget is larger than that of almost the entire US states. That leaves a lot of opportunities for non-profit making.
