WASHINGTON, DC (February 17, 2026) — A newly released audit by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General is shining fresh light on emergency migrant housing contracts awarded during the early Biden administration — and dovetails with ongoing uncertainty over redevelopment plans for the former College of New Rochelle campus.
The audit, titled “ACF’s $529 Million Sole Source Contract Award for Unaccompanied Alien Children Services Was Based on an Unsolicited Proposal, Double the Cost Estimate, and Noncompliant With Pre-Award Requirements,” examined a 2021 contract issued by the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), a division of HHS.
According to the report, ACF awarded a $529 million sole-source contract to Family Endeavors, Inc. just three days after receiving an unsolicited proposal, without full and open competition. The agency had anticipated increased shelter needs for months but failed to conduct competitive procurement in advance. The contract was more than double ACF’s internal estimate of $245 million, and the agency did not properly document a price analysis or fully assess contractor responsibility before awarding the deal.
The audit concluded the contract violated federal procurement requirements and recommended stronger planning, competition and cost-justification safeguards. ACF agreed with the recommendations.
Family Endeavors previously drew national scrutiny after hiring Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, a former federal immigration official who joined the Biden-Harris transition team. Reporting from 2021 highlighted that the nonprofit’s contract awards drew questions about potential conflicts of interest. Lorenzen-Strait later resigned from the organization amid scrutiny.
In August 2023, Project Veritas released undercover video footage in which Lorenzen-Strait claimed he was negotiating a deal to house 400 migrants at the former College of New Rochelle campus. A February 16, 2024 email from Trustee Steve Cohen stated that state and federal agencies had inspected the property “with an eye toward housing 550 migrants,” exceeding earlier figures referenced in the video.
The House Committee on Homeland Security subsequently sent Lorenzen-Strait a letter on Sept. 26, 2023, notifying him that as part of its investigation into federal contracts related to housing and supervision of illegal immigrants encountered by Customs and Border Protection at the Southwest border, he was to preserve records, produce records and appear for a transcribed interview.
The former College of New Rochelle campus was purchased in 2019 by the Trustees of the Masonic Hall and Asylum Fund after the college declared bankruptcy. The trustees have since sought to advance redevelopment but have faced challenges, including zoning disputes and lingering local controversy over potential migrant housing.
Efforts to move forward on redevelopment have continued to stall. Domenick Pisciotta, a trustee of Masonic Hall & Home, said today there are still no new updates on the proposed plan for the site. He said last fall the organization plans to meet with city officials once its plan is complete, but “there is currently no specific timeline.”
Though the OIG audit does not mention the College of New Rochelle specifically, its findings — including sole-source contract awards, cost overruns and bypassed procurement safeguards — align with broader concerns raised by journalists and congressional investigators about how emergency migrant housing arrangements were structured.
Freedom of Information requests have been submitted to the City of New Rochelle, with additional requests anticipated to federal and state agencies. Lorenzen-Strait did not respond to requests for comment about which agencies were involved or the timeline of negotiations.
The OIG report confirms that at least one major migrant housing contract in 2021 was awarded in violation of federal procurement requirements and exceeded internal cost estimates by hundreds of millions of dollars.
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This article was prepared with the assistance of AI tools under the direction and editing of Robert Cox.
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