The House Appropriations Committee spent part of its March 21 session grouping multiple housing items for joint consideration, agreeing to move some land-access funding into the base, hold broader housing-development dollars together for negotiation, and to reduce two proposed VHIP positions to a single position in the Department of Housing and Community Development.

Members said the land access opportunities line would move from a one-time to base funding on the committee’s other spreadsheet, and they agreed to treat multiple housing-development assistance items together rather than acting on them piecemeal. On staffing, the committee agreed with Department of Housing and Community Development proposals to fund one VHIP-related position instead of two positions originally proposed.

Why it matters: Housing development assistance, land-access funding and VHIP staffing affect state capacity to support affordable housing projects. Committee members signaled an intent to prioritize coordinated review rather than approving each item separately.

Outcome: The committee agreed to “do all the housing together” and to wait before making final base/one-time decisions on several line items. On VHIP the committee agreed to fund a single position; staff will reflect that change in the updated numbers and language returned to the committee.