The California Democrat has fired off a heated letter to President Barack Obama after reading an op-ed piece from Donovan in the Fresno Bee, highlighting the falling foreclosure rate in California’s Central Valley as evidence that HUD’s efforts to tackle the housing crisis are yielding results.

“I’m incredibly disappointed in the lack of professionalism and lack of understanding shown by this agency. They don’t get it,” Cardoza told POLITICO.

“For him to try to convince my folks, who are suffering on a daily basis, that he’s right because he’s read some statistics in Washington when he doesn’t get it, it’s really just absurd,” Cardoza continued.

At the heart of the controversy is a debate over different readings of the data compiled by RealtyTrac, an independent firm that tracks foreclosure filings. Donovan points to evidence that foreclosure rates have fallen 21 percent in Stockton and 35 percent in Merced in the first six months of the year, compared with last year.

“This improvement is the result of, in large part, the array of targeted tools the Obama administration has provided to communities in this region, to the state and to homeowners to begin stabilizing the housing market,” Donovan wrote.

But three cities in Cardoza’s district — Modesto, Merced and Stockton – have ranked among the top 10 in the country for foreclosures. And the congressman says that data doesn’t acknowledge the increase in loan payment delinquencies, which could signal more foreclosures ahead.

“These programs simply are not working, and I am deeply troubled by HUD’s lack of understanding of the foreclosure crisis,” Cardoza wrote. “Your leadership on this issue is needed more than ever.”

Responding, HUD spokesman Neill Coleman said the administration’s programs are specifically targeted to go after those who are delinquent on their mortgage payments.

“Delinquency is a metric we pay attention to. … People who are delinquent on their loans are a key population the administration’s programs are designed to help,” Coleman said. “If someone who is delinquent is helped by one of our programs, and as a result, that homeowner doesn’t have a foreclosure notice filed against them — that’s a good outcome.”

This is not the first time Cardoza, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, whose district was hit hard by the foreclosure crisis and has made no secret of his criticisms of the Obama administration, has gone after the HUD secretary. Earlier this year, he called for Donovan’s resignation. And late last month, after meeting with the secretary at a Congressional Hispanic Caucus luncheon, he added an amendment to the HUD appropriations bill to strip him of a travel budget, saying he wanted to cause “little personal pain,” for a trip the secretary took to Rio de Janeiro for a housing conference during the nation’s financial crisis.

“It doesn’t make any sense to hurt the people we’re trying to help by cutting HUD’s travel funding,” Donovan said of the amendment, adopted later on a voice vote. “That is funding that goes to do foreclosure counseling events and a whole range of other things that are exactly the kinds of things that we want to be doing in his district. So to me, it looks like he’s cutting off his nose to spite his face.”

Cardoza said he was surprised that more members of the Hispanic Caucus weren’t outraged by the high rates of foreclosure in the Hispanic community. He also urged administration officials to testify before Congress this fall about their efforts to resolve the housing crisis.

“You’ve got some folks that are incredibly arrogant on the economic team, that think they know better than people who live on Main Street,” Cardoza said. “It’s time for us to start looking at the economic team over there.”