It’s the same old song and, we fear, it will have the same old ending.

We refer to a preliminary report by HUD’s Eastern Woodlands Office of Native American Programs that alleges that the Lumbee tribal government misspent about $730,000 of federal money from Oct. 1, 2012, to March 20, 2015, redirecting dollars earmarked to help Lumbee Indians with housing for such things as trips and automobiles that HUD says were not permitted uses.

HUD money must arrive in Robeson County with an adhesive, because it is forever getting stuck to the wrong hands. A quick review finds HUD money being misspent in recent years by the Lumberton Housing Authority, the Robeson County Housing Authority and the Lumbee tribal government now for at least a third time.

When the math is done, it is well past $2 million that was sent to Robeson County to help poor people with housing but wasn’t used toward that end. Other than a couple of resignations of housing directors, we are unaware of any significant punishment, certainly no criminal prosecutions, the absence of which only emboldens those who would steal from the poor.

Perhaps the most egregious example was this: When it was discovered that members of the Lumbee Tribal Council for years paid themselves illegal stipends adding up to about $450,000, not a single cent was repaid by those who profited.

We understand that HUD is reluctant to prosecute criminally because it can be difficult proving intent and that rules weren’t broken simply because of ignorance or incompetence or a convenient blending of the two. But HUD has a flimsy paddle when administering punishment, typically withholding future funding that punishes for a second time the people the money was intended to help.

It’s important to remember that this most recent alleged abuse occurred under the tribal administration of Paul Brooks, the former tribal chairman. Brooks’ administration was previously found to have misspent $225,000 in HUD money for such things as food, a fishing trip and the improper purchase of a mobile home.

It will be left to Harvey Godwin, the current chairman who defeated Brooks in the November election, to mitigate the damage and try to save every dollar of HUD money that might be withheld. To do that, Godwin will have to demonstrate that some of those 730,000 dollars that were allegedly misspent on such things as travel and conferences, nutrition programs, Youth Services, and housing units that were occupied by tenants who were not American Indian somehow advanced housing efforts.

Godwin’s duty as well will be to see that the misuse of housing dollars comes to an end. A bigger challenger, however, and it’s no fault of Godwin’s, will be convincing tribal members that this administration is unlike the one that immediately preceded it, and is motivated not by self-interest and the ease with which money can be pilfered, but is committed to helping Lumbees who are in need of better housing.

Their existence is the lone reason that government exists.