Rhode Island’s House GOP caucus asserted Wednesday that the state’s housing financing agency spends too much on administrative costs and not enough to create housing.
An analysis unveiled by the caucus during a Statehouse news conference shows that RIHousing has 2.13 employees per 10,000 residents compared with 0.51 for its counterpart agency in Massachusetts.
When it comes to the cost to support these positions, the GOP caucus said its analysis shows that RIHousing’s expenses are higher than other New England states.
“They are spending on a ratio of 7-to-1 more money on their salaries and their administrative costs than they are on their programs and that is anemic compared to our neighboring states,” House GOP Leader Michael Chippendale (R-Foster) said in an interview.
In a statement, RIHousing CEO Carol Ventura characterized the GOP criticism as “political talking points” that “mischaracterize and malign the work of an industry and agency that continues to deliver thousands of affordable homes to our state amid a historic housing crisis.”
Ventura said RI Housing performs more functions than peer agencies in other states and has been recognized many times by counterparts for its approach and impact.
Over the last five years, she said, RIHousing has invested about $1.6 billion in housing and financed more than 5,600 homes for Rhode Islanders.
“The House Minority brief does not adequately reflect an understanding of the significant workload performed by the staff, the millions of dollars invested into projects, nor the additional programs run by RIHousing to support low-income Rhode Islanders,” Ventura said.
The General Assembly created RIHousing as a quasi-public state agency in 1973 to finance housing. It is separate from the Executive Office of Housing created a few years ago with the goal of addressing the state housing crisis.
Other findings from the GOP analysis:
- While RIHousing’s internal cost standard for the rehabilitation of units is about $266,000 per unit, the per-unit cost for recent rehabs for Hillcrest Village Apartments and Hillside Village Appointments were more than twice that cost.
- Three members of RIHousing’s board have served past their appointed terms and one position on the seven-member board is vacant.
As The Public’s Radio reported in 2021, critics say the state’s housing bureaucracy moves too slowly, especially in poorer communities.
Chippendale said he hopes the findings developed by his caucus will be reviewed by the state Auditor General and the Office of Internal Audit and Program Integrity. He said it is also worth considering whether Rhode Island Housing should be absorbed into the Executive Office of Housing.
This story has been updated with a response from RIHousing.
