Housing Programs Need Accountability and Transparency

When Pennsylvanians call a state government agency, they expect to receive help. It’s my job as a state legislator to step in when agencies aren’t doing their jobs and, as a member of the House Appropriations Committee, take a deeper look at how they are allocating resources. We perform these reviews during three weeks of hearings after the governor’s budget address each year.

Problems with an affordable housing agency

One of the agencies that appeared before the Appropriations Committee plays a vital role in affordable housing: the Pennsylvania House Finance Agency. The PHFA is responsible for various programs to help people buy and rehabilitate homes in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, the agency has recently shown a poor track record with its administration of COVID-19 relief programs.

In 2020, the PHFA was tasked with distributing $175 million in rent and mortgage assistance. Of that money, only $54 million was disbursed to homeowners and renters around the Commonwealth.

The problems didn’t end there. In 2021, the PHFA was given $350 million from the American Rescue Plan to create the Homeowners Assistance Grant Program. The PHFA shut down the program for over a year due to technical issues between itself and a vendor.

When we allocate crucial funds to support Pennsylvanians in crisis, it is imperative that we have full confidence in the PHFA’s ability to distribute the funds appropriately and in a timely manner. This underscores the need for transparency and accountability in our budgeting process.

A bill to solve the problem

And this is why I have offered HB 2387 which requires an annual audit by the Pennsylvania auditor general of the PHFA. We recently learned that the PHFA has never faced such scrutiny by the auditor general – and frankly, it shows.

Another program the PHFA is responsible for is the Housing Affordability and Rehabilitation Enhancement Fund, commonly known as PHARE. According to his budget proposal, Gov. Josh Shapiro intends to expand the PHFA’s responsibility by increasing the PHARE annual cap to $100 million by fiscal year 2027–28. House Democrats have signaled that they want to send even more money to the PHFA.

While the merits of the PHARE increase will be a topic of discussion this month, I feel compelled to share serious concerns about the PHFA’s capacity to administer these changes.

Before the General Assembly can authorize any further spending authority to the PHFA, we must solve the problems resulting from past failures to ensure the transparency and accountability of federal and state dollars.

As a member of the House Appropriations Committee, I joined my colleagues in introducing the “Back to Basics” plan. It’s a package of nonpartisan legislation to assist state government in performing basic and essential tasks. Most of the bills also aim to manage our state finances more effectively.

Support the Back to Basics plan

If we meticulously scrutinize each spending request, ensuring its necessity, alignment with the government’s statutory authority, and effectiveness, we can pass a bipartisan, fiscally responsible budget that serves all Pennsylvanians. I believe the Back to Basics plan is essential to this process and can facilitate an on-time budget.

Pennsylvania’s June 30 budget deadline is fast approaching, and there is little consensus on the final product. Gov. Shapiro has offered a budget of $48.34 billion, representing an increase of $3.7 billion, or 8.4% above our current state spending.

We cannot wait for the governor to engage with us and risk a late budget like last year, which is why I went to work with my colleagues to craft a plan to set the Commonwealth on stable financial footing. My legislation will help the General Assembly better understand the past failures of the PHFA and how to prevent them in the future. Transparency and accountability are the keys to getting the state budget done on time. I’m ready to work with Gov. Shapiro to make this a reality.

This article was originally published by RealClearPennsylvania and made available via RealClearWire.