One bill I’m particularly excited about will be introduced in the next day or so. In a conversation with the folks at Metro West Housing Solutions (Lakewood’s housing authority) last summer, I learned about an issue with duplicative inspections. Affordable housing projects often require public funding from multiple sources including state housing development grants (HDG), state and federal low-income housing tax credits (LIHTC), and federal HOME funds. Each of these public funding sources comes with tenant income-verification inspections immediately after occupancy and/or periodically over many years. So why can’t we streamline these inspections and cut some duplicates? My bill starts up a process of rulemaking to bring all parties to the table and get to work on streamlining these inspections.

My bill hardly solves our affordable housing problem – we need millions of dollars to do that – but it attempts to stretch existing resources just a little bit further by reducing duplication. Stay tuned for updates on more of my bills