A new report by the Rhode Island Department of Housing department recommends ways to streamline housing governance across the state. (Image via iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Entering its third year as a cabinet-level agency, Rhode Island’s Department of Housing plans to reinvent itself, and it all starts with a new name: the Executive Office of Housing.
The name change is just one of many proposals under the department’s organizational plan submitted to the General Assembly at the end of 2024. The plan aims to bring more decision making under the state’s umbrella.
“The state’s housing crisis demands coordinated action,” Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard said in a statement Thursday. “By consolidating resources and aligning efforts, we can deliver meaningful change for families and communities in need.”
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The General Assembly as part of its fiscal year 2025 budget called for the housing department to review and recommend ways to streamline housing governance across the state. The 141-page report was due Dec. 31 and was promptly delivered, unlike past requests made by the legislature to the department.
The state’s first housing secretary, Joshua Saal, came under scrutiny in his final month on the job after he missed a deadline to submit a required report meant to provide comprehensive data on the state’s housing situation.
His successor, Stefan Pryor, was late to submit data to the Senate’s Fiscal Office about how much remaining pandemic relief funds the department was sitting on as of late 2023.
“And the past reports that were submitted late were not nearly as comprehensive or well-organized as this one,” Rep. June Speakman, a Warren Democrat and chair of a legislative panel studying affordable housing, said in an interview Friday. “This is professional.”
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi is still reviewing the report, chamber spokesperson Larry Berman said in an email Friday evening.
“I anticipate the report will be presented by the Housing Department at future public commission meetings for discussion,” Shekarchi said in a statement.
In order to streamline operations at the proposed Executive Office of Housing, the plan calls on the state to merge the Housing Resources Commission and the homelessness advisory council into a single advisory body. The department also recommends making the housing secretary the permanent chair the board of commissioners for RIHousing, the quasi-state agency that finances affordable home construction — a role still held by former Secretary Pryor, who left his post in July.
RIHousing Executive Director Carol Ventura did not immediately respond to request for comment.
“I’m a fan of consolidation — we are a small state,” Speakman said. “But having multiple blocks in the org chart makes me a little concerned — I’m going to have to think about it and process it some more.”
Housing Network of Rhode Island Executive Director Melina Lodge opposes the department’s plan to consolidate more power. She said the proposal could create a more efficient system, but that’s under the presumption there will always be an administration that wants to build more homes.
“It is entirely possible that we end up with leadership that doesn’t care quite the same way about housing,” Lodge said in an interview.
However Lodge favored the name change. In becoming an executive office, she said it will have more autonomy after bouncing from the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation to the Department of Administration.
“It really just codifies that it’s a standalone entity and not subservient to another state body,” Lodge said.
Such changes would require General Assembly approval. Speakman said she would like to see legislation considered at the State House this year.
“There’s no money involved in any of these proposals that I could see,” Speakman said. “Presumably this consolidated structure would bring more efficiencies.”
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