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BEA outlines housing champions, invest-in-h program and broadband plans in reorganization push
Summary
Officials described a reorganization that groups planning, housing and broadband under a new division; lawmakers heard that $5 million in existing housing funds will be carried forward and that federal broadband grants are being administered in multi-year plans.
Agency officials told lawmakers the Business and Economic Affairs reorganization now groups municipal planning, housing programs and broadband into a single Division of Planning and Community Development and outlined how several multi-year programs will be administered.
"The division of planning and community development pulls three related areas of focus for the agency," Chase Hegeman said, listing the office of planning and development, housing offices (including the housing champions program) and a broadband team.
Lawmakers asked about a $5 million housing champions appropriation previously approved by the Legislature. Hegeman said the money already exists in prior appropriations and the HB 2 language being discussed would extend the time during which the funds can be spent — the appropriation previously was set to sunset on June 30, 2025. "That $5,000,000 already exists based off of the previous legislative session. All this does in HB 2 is extend the time for the funding to be used," he said.
Officials described the housing champions program as a multiyear effort with 18 communities already designated; program administration and oversight will continue even after grant rounds are awarded because local projects require ongoing monitoring. "The initial application round has already run. There were 18 communities that were designated housing champions," Hegeman said.
On broadband, agency staff said the state has received roughly $122 million in ARPA capital-project funds to build broadband infrastructure, and an additional near-$191 million allocation under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program is expected. "There are currently two major build outs underway that'll bring over 50,000 households or locations access to high speed internet," Hegeman said. Officials said administrative drawdowns for those federal programs are expected to continue for multiple years and that the BEAD program requires plan approvals and competitive applications to determine awardees.
Ending: Lawmakers asked for continued updates on the housing champions grant rounds and broadband plan approvals; agency staff said more federal funding rollouts will require multi-year administrative teams and warned that building out infrastructure is a multi-step, federally regulated process.
