The Community Development Block Grant program has delivered housing assistance to low-income communities for decades — but its decentralized structure creates accountability gaps that HUD's own inspector general has repeatedly flagged. When federal money travels through state and local grantees to subrecipients, each handoff is a point where documentation can slip, oversight can thin, and consumer payment apps can substitute for auditable financial systems. The Baton Rouge case illustrates how compliance failures at the subgrantee level expose local governments — and ultimately taxpayers — to federal liability under 2 CFR Part 200 and 24 CFR Part 570.