Oregon Housing Council Packet for Friday Meeting; Minutes Signal Possible Expanded Role for OHCS Non Profit, Raising Transparency/ Accountability Issues.

I have updated the Housing Council meeting packet to include material for this Friday's meeting (December 2nd) in Salem HERE.  (It contains all prior packets and is large, so be patient it will take a few minutes to update). 

In looking through minutes of meeting last month, I noticed a very important discussion that signals OHCS intent to explore using the Hardest Hit non profit for OTHER tasks. (I could not stay for the entire meeting last month or I would have noted this sooner).  Excerpt from the minutes: 

LaMont asks if the non-profit that was developed for the Hardest Hit Fund is something that would work as a catalyst for other programs. Crager replies that when they start talking about reset and doing government differently the question comes up about whether we should be considering those types of models. The most important thing, at this point, is the Hardest Hit Fund. The nonprofit is being treated as the repository for those funds. In talking to the department's attorney, we are looking at developing models and best practices within this organization that could potentially be able to transition down the road. LaMont suggests that perhaps part of the retreat agenda could be looking at some possible benefits and opportunities for using the nonprofit in that fashion. Crager says the Hardest Hit Funding provides an opportunity to prove that an alternative business model could work.

The expansion of the OHCS controlled Hardest Hit non profit is a development that I have projected since the inception of the Hardest Hit program. 

A jurisdictional expansion of an state controlled housing agency non profit raises significant issues of transparency and accountability that have yet to be addressed publicly by OHCS. Those issues include, but are not limited to:

1. Governance; 
2. Open meetings and records; 
3. Budget approval and oversight; 
4. Strategic plan development and performance reporting and auditing; 
5. Avoidance of conflicts of interest and the prevention of waste, fraud, and abuse; 
6. Procurement policy and controls. 
7. Personnel practices and policies.

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.