Former Crook County Judge Scott Cooper says legislative oversight of Oregon’s affordable housing agency could help cure some of the problems cited by local officials, who have complained the agency sometimes shortchanges communities east of the Cascades.

Cooper would like lawmakers on existing committees, such as those that deal with economic development or “general government” issues, to begin annually reviewing the operations and policies of Oregon Housing and Community Services. Currently, the agency’s budget is reviewed by a subcommittee, but most other oversight comes from the Housing Council, a group appointed by the governor.

“This is a $1 billion (biennial) budget, and most people don’t even know it exists,” Cooper said of Oregon Housing and Community Services.

Cooper is currently the executive director of the Redmond-based nonprofit Partnership to End Poverty.

Adding legislative oversight of Oregon Housing and Community Services would be as simple as leaders in the Oregon House and Senate deciding to make the change.

“Every single (legislative) session, we change the committee structure,” Cooper said.

Cooper does not believe Oregon Housing and Community Services intentionally disregards the need for housing assistance east of the Cascades, but the agency’s focus on getting the most it can for every dollar hurts some rural projects’ chances. For example, the per-unit cost of an 80-unit affordable housing development in Portland would likely be lower than the cost of a two-unit development in Burns, Cooper said.

One local project that ran into problems with the state was an affordable housing project in La Pine for low-income and homeless people ages 55 and older. Developer Pacific Crest twice applied for an affordable housing grant and tax credits before bringing in a lawyer to advise the company on how to proceed. In the end, details were negotiated by lawyers from both sides, and Pacific Crest received a $90,000 state grant in March, plus an annual federal tax credit of $523,000 for the next decade. At the time, Deschutes County Commissioner Tammy Baney, who is a member of the State Housing Council, said the process for awarding money lacked transparency and could be misinterpreted as favoritism.

More recently, some Bend officials said the housing agency denied the city a chance to compete for a share of $5 million in the latest round of federal funding to stabilize home prices and prevent blight in areas with high rates of foreclosure. During earlier rounds of this initiative, called the Neighborhood Stabilization Program, the city was awarded $2.7 million, according to city staff.

Cooper also pointed to $27.6 million in affordable housing money the state allocated on July 13: of the 26 projects funded, only two were on the east side, in Boardman and Klamath Falls.

Cooper said legislative oversight would at least give local officials more ears in Salem to appeal to when they encounter these types of situations. The idea is getting some interest from local lawmakers.

Sen. Chris Telfer, R-Bend, said she and Cooper have discussed the issue, and she is interested in creating a task force of officials from across the state to examine how the agency doles out housing money.

Telfer met with the housing agency’s director, Margaret Van Vliet, and Karen Tolvstad, the administrator of the Policy, Strategy and Community Engagement Division, for over an hour at the end of June regarding the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

“I got a better understanding and a little bit more confidence in their decision,” Telfer said.

Sen. Doug Whitsett, R-Klamath Falls, has also been in touch with Cooper.

“There has been a significant amount of federal money coming into Oregon, and it’s just been so slow getting out to the people, especially in eastern Oregon,” Whitsett said. “I’ve actually asked my legislative assistant to get a little more information (from Oregon Housing and Community Services).”

Oregon Housing and Community Services is allowing the latest Neighborhood Stabilization Program recipients until Oct. 31 to spend the money. Then, the agency will evaluate how much money remains unspent and could reallocate it to other communities.

Telfer said Van Vliet asked what criteria should be used in the potential reallocation, and Telfer suggested areas in which Bend has performed well on previous rounds of federal funding: proven results, spending the money in a timely manner, and the ability to leverage the federal money to secure additional funds.

“They said they would be very pleased to add those three things in there, so that will hopefully give Bend a leg up,” Telfer said.

Telfer said she was nonetheless disappointed that the housing agency will wait until at least November to reallocate money left in the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.

“I tried to encourage them to do this sooner because of the weather problems we have and housing below $250,000 is being snapped up right now,” Telfer said. “It’s unfortunately being snapped up by the investors who are just going to flip it.”