2026-10-02 · housing
Her agency distributes billions for Oregon housing projects. Her husband’s company helped develop some of them
ProPublica reported that Oregon Housing and Community Services director Andrea Bell did not name her husband's employer, the affordable-housing consulting firm JH Brawner, on her state ethics disclosures until Sept. 23, the day ProPublica asked about it. The firm consulted on two Portland-area housing authority projects seeking state money from her agency: Park Place, a 200-unit Clackamas County project with $36 million in state funding, and Aloha 209th in Washington County, awaiting a $17.5 million subsidy. Bell said in a statement that she took the concerns "seriously" and had sought an advisory opinion from the Oregon Government Ethics Commission; three former officials familiar with state ethics law told ProPublica the lack of disclosure "merited review."
Bell filed amended economic-interest disclosures for the last three years on Sept. 23, 2026; OHCS has distributed more than $1.4 billion in state funding for rent-restricted apartments over the past five years.