Housing Secretary Josh Saal resigns - what we know

Rhode Island's first housing "czar" is leaving the job just a year after his reign began, and just as the state kicks off a major overhaul of its programs to make homes more affordable.

Gov. Dan McKee "accepted the resignation" of Housing Secretary Josh Saal, the governor's office announced Wednesday. It did not name a replacement, but said Saal would remain "for a short transition period and our office will have more to say about a leadership plan for the Department over the next few days."

Saal said his resignation will be official "in two weeks."

"We thank Secretary Saal for his work over the past year and look forward to building a Department of Housing that is innovative and responsive to the gravity this moment requires," the McKee administration said in a news release.

Former state Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor, who stepped down for an unsuccessful run for treasurer last year, is being considered as a possible replacement, according to multiple sources.

Saal, a Brown University graduate, came to Rhode Island last January from New York City, where he was deputy director of predevelopment in the city's Department of Housing, Preservation and Development. He was hired first as a deputy commerce secretary for housing in Rhode Island and then was elevated to cabinet-level housing secretary last summer when lawmakers created a unified state Department of Housing, which officially came into existence Jan. 1. He was set to make $190,799 in salary this year.

Saal's task was to coordinate and centralize state housing policies traditionally carried out by a handful of separate organizations and state departments, but some questioned whether the 37-year-old had the experience necessary or Rhode Island connections to get it done.

Even before his Housing Department launched, Saal came under scrutiny from top lawmakers wondering why he wasn't moving faster to deploy some of the $250 million budgeted for housing programs this year.

"I don't think he's done much of a job so far," Senate President Dominick Ruggerio said in December. The Senate Finance Committee is holding a hearing on the progress of all state use of federal American Rescue Plan funds, the primary source of the housing money, on Thursday.

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, who championed the creation of both a housing secretary and a housing department, said the state "could do better" to combat homelessness, a key responsibility of the secretary. Shekarchi is expected to propose a package of legislation to spur construction and housing affordability this year.

“I am disappointed by the lack of progress that was made under Secretary Saal’s leadership and the inadequate reports he recently submitted to the legislature," Shekarchi said Wednesday. "The General Assembly committed unprecedented resources to address affordable housing and homelessness in the last two budgets, and there has been very little funding spent so far... I hope the new secretary will be a person of action with a record of getting things done in Rhode Island.”

House GOP leader Michael Chippendale also weighed in, saying the affordable housing shortage "is worthy of a leader who can make an immediate impact forging alliance with the various support organizations across the state and building consensus for a thoughtful plan of action."

Melina Lodge, executive director of the Housing Network of Rhode Island, a coalition of affordable housing developers, said it "has been evident through news coverage and submission of incomplete reports and plans the secretary hasn't been able to make the progress we thought we would see on the housing and homelessness issues we are facing."

Last fall, Saal was handed the unenviable job of handling and eventually removing a homeless encampment at the front door of the State House.

The McKee administration went to court to have the encampment cleared, but the episode strained the relationship between Saal and advocates for the homeless.

The encampment fight was heating up around the same time Saal released a report — more than two weeks past its statutory due date — recommending housing programs spread across a handful of organizations be centralized under his agency. A separate report, an annual update of state housing statistics, was filed four days late this month.

Then a few days before the start of the new year, Saal went out to bid for a consultant to help with the "development of a statewide housing plan," raising questions about why that hadn't already been done and whether creating a plan should be the housing department's job.

The agencies proposed to come under the Department of Housing umbrella include Rhode Island Housing, the quasi-state agency and lender that has led state housing efforts for decades. And Saal proposed bringing the Housing Resources Commission, a 28-member board that directs funding for affordable housing, under the Department of Housing.

By the start of the new year, some of the groups and organizations Saal was supposed to be leading were bristling at the idea of taking orders from him.

"The State’s power is hindered by the decentralization of homelessness and housing programs across multiple agencies, including non-governmental and quasi-governmental bodies," Saal's housing reorganization report said.

"At a time when the State is prioritizing housing and investing $250 million into housing development, home ownership, and community revitalization, this preliminary plan proposes a governance model for housing and homelessness that would centralize housing and homelessness functions within the Department of Housing and strengthen the already strong relations between the State and its partners."

He highlighted the issue of competing interests among the different housing players in his resignation letter Wednesday.

"This approach has led to limitations on oversight, and to the unintentional creation of 'silos' — an ineffective practice that the creation of this centralized agency aims to address," he wrote.

Asked by The Journal about Saal's job performance in December, McKee pointed out that he didn't have a department to lead yet and, even after the department was created, would be understaffed for the job it was being asked to do.

In his budget request for the Department of Housing, Saal in October asked for $2.6 million and 15 new employees in the year that starts July 1, up from $1.5 million this year.

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Housing Secretary Josh Saal is resigning. What to know