Housing Stabilization Services, a Medicaid benefit
Launched in July 2020, Housing Stabilization Services made Minnesota the first state to cover housing help through Medicaid. Projected to cost about $2.6 million a year, the program paid out $104 million in 2024 alone, about 40 times that, and about $302 million from 2021 through June 2025. Citing widespread fraud, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) ended the program effective October 31, 2025, with federal approval.
How the scheme worked, per prosecutors and auditors
Prosecutors said operators identified vulnerable people, many leaving drug or alcohol treatment, signed them up for services, and submitted inflated or fully fabricated reimbursement claims while providing little or no actual housing help. The first wave of federal charges, against eight people, came in September 2025. By September 2026, federal prosecutors had announced guilty pleas from at least ten Housing Stabilization Services defendants. They include all four Brilliant Minds Services defendants (July 2026) and two Philadelphia residents who enrolled as Minnesota providers while living out of state. Two Pristine Health owners pleaded guilty on September 24 and October 1, 2026, and on October 7, 2026 a federal jury convicted Sharmaine Meadows, whose company was paid over $3.6 million, on three counts of health care fraud.
Where things stand
The state ended the program on October 31, 2025. The Governor’s 2026 supplemental budget asked the Legislature to align state law with the termination and to have the Department of Human Services (DHS) deliver recommendations for a redesigned housing benefit by September 15, 2027. No replacement benefit existed as of September 2026. Prosecutions ongoing.
The key numbers
Each figure says what it measures. A spending total is not a fraud amount.
People charged in this program
All selected defendants →A starter set of principal defendants, not a complete list. Each status comes from a documented court step.
Philadelphia resident who enrolled as a Minnesota Housing Stabilization Services provider
Philadelphia resident who enrolled as a Minnesota Housing Stabilization Services provider
Brilliant Minds Services LLC (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Brilliant Minds Services LLC (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Brilliant Minds Services LLC (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Brilliant Minds Services LLC and Foundation First Services LLC (Housing Stabilization Services providers)
Owner, SafeLodgings, Inc. (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Owner and operator, Cradle of Love, LLC (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Pristine Health LLC (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Pristine Health LLC (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
House of Heroes, Inc. (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
North Home Health Care LLC and South Home Health Care LLC (Housing Stabilization Services providers)
North Home Health Care LLC (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Cynthia Allen Servicing Company, LLC (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Candice Carene, Inc. (Housing Stabilization Services provider)
Milestones
- July 20, 2020ProgramHousing Stabilization
Housing Stabilization Services launches
Housing Stabilization Services begins. The Department of Human Services says Minnesota is the first state to have these benefits approved as a basic Medicaid service. Services launched July 20, 2020.
- August 1, 2025ProgramHousing Stabilization
DHS asks CMS to end Housing Stabilization Services
In a letter to the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) asks for help ending the housing stabilization benefit. The letter says the DHS inspector general has suspended payments to 77 providers that year based on credible allegations of fraud. A payment suspension is a temporary action, not a finding.
- September 18, 2025ChargesHousing Stabilization
First federal Housing Stabilization charges
Eight people are charged with wire fraud in what prosecutors call the first wave of Housing Stabilization fraud cases. Per the release’s year-by-year figures, the program paid out more than $302 million from 2021 through June 2025 (this site’s sum) against a $2.6 million annual projection. Those charged are presumed innocent unless convicted.
- October 31, 2025ProgramHousing Stabilization
Housing Stabilization Services ends
Citing widespread fraud, the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) ends the program with federal approval. October 31 is the last day services can be delivered.
- July 24, 2026ConvictionHousing Stabilization
All four Brilliant Minds defendants plead guilty
The four men charged in the first Housing Stabilization wave over Brilliant Minds Services LLC plead guilty to wire fraud in hearings between July 7 and July 23, 2026. They billed about $2.2 million for roughly 350 people who received no services, and made up records using AI when insurers asked for documentation.
- September 10, 2026InvestigationHousing Stabilization
Housing Stabilization defendant arrested at the Minneapolis airport after nine months abroad
Kaamil Omar Sallah, indicted December 16, 2025 on four counts of wire fraud over about $1.4 million in SafeLodgings claims, is arrested at the Minneapolis airport on September 10, 2026, about nine months after flying to Amsterdam, in a return the Justice Department says was arranged through his defense lawyers. He is charged, not convicted, and presumed innocent.
- October 1, 2026ConvictionHousing Stabilization
Two Pristine Health owners plead guilty
Hassan Ahmed Hussein (September 24) and Ahmed Abdirashid Mohamed (October 1) plead guilty to wire fraud over Housing Stabilization claims. Pristine Health billed Minnesota Medicaid more than $820,000 for about 90 enrollees, some of whom never agreed to services.
- October 7, 2026ConvictionHousing Stabilization
Jury convicts a Housing Stabilization provider at trial
A federal jury in St. Paul convicts Sharmaine Meadows of Lake Elmo on three counts of health care fraud. Her company was paid over $3.6 million between 2020 and 2025 for services that, the evidence showed, were not provided. Sentencing is to be set later.
People charged but not convicted are presumed innocent, and amounts labeled alleged come from charging documents, not proven losses. Method and corrections