At the risk of being labeled a "homer" (no, NOT the "duh" HOMER), I think it is objectively true that Oregon Housing and Community Services has earned the highest ranking among Housing Hit State HFA's for the PUBLIC outreach they have done so far for the Hardest Hit program.
By my count OHCS staff has done 10 PUBLIC outreach sessions throughout the state, and they have at least 3 scheduled legislative briefings scheduled for the week leading into submission of their Hardest Hit plan. (If I am able to attend all 3 legislative meetings, I will have attended 7 of these 13 sessions).
I have looked at all the Hardest Hit HFA website for all states and I have not found anywhere near this level of PUBLIC outreach in ANY other state.
While significant transparency issues DO remain (non profit scope, governance, and use of excess funds as described in my post HERE and posting of the actual plan submitted to Treasury) to date at least OHCS DESERVES the highest rating on PUBLIC outreach among the 10 states receiving Hardest Hit TARP funds.
Congratulations to OHCS Director Victor Merced, OHCS Deputy Director Rick Crager, OHCS Communications Director Lisa Joyce, and other participating OHCS staff as well as Department of Consumer and Business Services Executive Assistant for Policy Lou Savage who also participated in all of these Hardest Hit outreach sessions.
Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.
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