Omar Fateh shilled for HSS

KARE-11 TV is out with a report:

KARE 11 Investigates: Ethics questions emerge over Sen. Fateh’s housing bill and wife’s company ties.

Sen. Omar Fateh (DFL-Minneapolis) is by some accounts the front-runner to be elected Minneapolis mayor in November. The station is referring to Senate File 2741, a bill Sen. Fateh introduced back in March 2025 under the caption, “Housing stabilization service authorizations modifications.”

Housing Stabilization Services (HSS) is that Medicaid program under the state’s Dept. of Human Services (DHS). HSS is so fraud-ridden that even the soft-on-fraud administration of Gov. Tim Walz is trying to shut it down, completely.

The goal of Fateh’s SF 2741 was apparently to make it easier for vendors to enroll in the extremely lucrative taxpayer-funded program. The bill received a committee hearing in the DFL-controlled state senate but does not appear to have advanced any further.

It turns out that Sen. Fateh’s wife, Kaltum Mohamed, was listed as an owner of an HSS company. It turns out that the company, Community Development Services (CDS), never did get any money from the HSS program before the state moved to shut down the program.

KARE-11 quotes a local college professor, David Schultz, on the ethics of it all:

When asked about the distinction that Community Development Services LLC had not billed for services, Schultz said that it doesn’t affect the ethical issue of conflict of interest.

“I don’t think it has any impact whatsoever. It doesn’t really mean anything whether or not he actually received money. It doesn’t address the issue of a conflict of interest from the day that he introduced this legislation, when his wife was in this business. That’s where the conflict was,” Schultz explained.

In other words, just because the attempt ultimately failed does not convert the unethical into the ethical.

As Omar Fateh scandals go, this one won’t even rate in the Top Five. But as in the earlier scandals involving his deep relationship with Feeding Our Future, adult day cares, voter fraud, etc., etc. the common link is how Fateh never bothers to explain his actions, on those rare occasions when asked. Case in point,

Senator Fateh declined KARE 11’s interview request and has not directly answered questions.

But, if you elect him mayor, he’ll give you all the free stuff you want.

Sen. Fateh provided a statement to KARE-11:

Constituents came to me with this bill which would have empowered counties to actually meet people where they are, with direct, one-on-one in person support and real oversight. That means more people housed, and county staff empowered to catch the fraudsters and bad actors earlier, which DHS has proven unable to do.

Fateh’s ex post, newly discovered concern for fraud prevention is touching.

As for DHS, Fateh himself bragged (at the 2-minute, 48-second mark) of his lobbying the agency hard on behalf of the state’s biggest-ever fraudsters, Feeding Our Future: