Housing authorities have never been more broke. Funds for public housing were not keeping pace with demand, even before Katrina.

This phenomena makes those of us in Washington really angry, because it has been so difficult to convince some members of Congress that we need new housing resources. The guidelines were put in place to protect the same families that these students have displaced.

Nationally, half the people served by vouchers are off of them within five years, so there's been a fairly healthy turnover. But now, housing authorities are squeezed, and we can't keep pace.

HUD's inspector general's office should be looking at this for known misuse of funds. Let's begin by looking at Iowa, but I think we need to know where else is it happening and to what extent.