As head of Oregon’s housing finance agency, Andrea Bell oversees a lot of taxpayer money.
asserted
Bell → oversee → money
Oregon Housing and Community Services has handed developers more than $1.4 billion in state funding to build rent-restricted apartments over the last five years — and even more counting federal tax credits the agency allocates.
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agency → hand → credits
Bell’s husband, Joshua Crites, works as a director for the consulting firm JH Brawner, which helps local housing authorities develop subsidized apartment projects that receive a lot of money from Bell’s agency.
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that → work → agency
The company lists offices in Oregon, Washington and Arizona and says it has played a role in creating 20,000 low-income housing units that cost $3 billion to develop.
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that → list → billion
JH Brawner’s Oregon work includes consulting on two housing authority projects that applied for or were awarded tens of millions of dollars collectively from Bell’s agency since her husband started working for the company.
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husband → include → company
(JH Brawner gets paid by the housing authority rather than the state.)
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Brawner → pay → authority
Oregon law requires leaders like Bell to report their sources of household income on annual ethics disclosures, including naming their spouses’ income sources, especially when they could present a conflict of interest.
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they → require → interest
The law also says any government official with a conflict should notify the person who appointed them in writing.
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who → say → writing
But Bell didn’t do either until ProPublica asked her about it.
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ProPublica → do → it
A spokesperson for Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat whose predecessor appointed Bell in 2022, told ProPublica that the governor’s office had “not been notified of any potential or actual conflict of interest.”
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office → appoint → interest
The closest Bell came to a disclosure was in 2025 with this vague note with a misspelling: “Spouse serves in an advisory role for a developmen.”
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Spouse → come → developmen
It did not name a company but instead showed a misspelled street address, with no suite number, for JH Brawner’s office in Issaquah, Washington, a commercial building with multiple tenants.
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It → name → tenants
Bell filed amended economic disclosures for the last three years on Sept. 23, the day that ProPublica asked her why she did not disclose her husband’s employer.
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she → file → employer
The new forms explicitly name the consulting firm.
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forms → name → firm
“I take concerns about my statement of economic interests (SEI) seriously and am committed to transparency, accountability, and compliance with state law,” Bell said in a statement.
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Bell → take → statement
She did not respond when asked whether she had played any role in her agency’s decisions regarding projects the company worked on.
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company → respond → projects
A spokesperson said housing subsidies are approved first by an internal committee that does not include Bell and then are reviewed by another group, the Housing Stability Council, which Bell does not serve on.
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Bell → say → which
The spokesperson, LeiLani Barney, told ProPublica to file a formal records request to learn who’s on the internal committee.
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who → tell → committee
Bell advises the housing council as it sets policy and makes funding decisions, according to the agency’s website.
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it → advise → website
Neither JH Brawner nor Crites, the firm’s director of strategic initiatives, responded to messages seeking comment.
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Brawner → respond → comment
Three former officials familiar with state ethics laws told ProPublica that Bell’s lack of disclosure was a problem that merited review to see whether she influenced any government decisions that benefited her husband’s company.
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that → tell → company
Russell Lehman, a retired administrative law judge who served on Washington’s Public Disclosure Commission from 2019 to 2021, said Bell appeared to have violated the law, even if she later corrected her mistake.
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she → serve → mistake
Lehman said he would want to know: “Why did it take a reporter asking you about it to have you file your reports?”
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you → say → reports
“In a perfect world, we wouldn’t need ProPublica for this kind of thing,” Lehman said.
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Lehman → need → thing
Kotek’s spokesperson called for an evaluation by the state’s ethics commission.
“The Governor holds all agency leadership to consistent and high ethical standards and any question on conflict of interest should be referred to the Oregon Government Ethics Commission for thorough review,” Kotek’s spokesperson said in a statement.
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spokesperson → call → statement
Bell told ProPublica in a statement that she had sought an advisory opinion from the commission at the governor’s urging and that she had updated her ethics disclosures “to provide clarity.”
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she → tell → clarity
Money from Bell’s department plays an essential role in helping to build apartment projects intended to be affordable, channeling state funding and federal tax credits in order to reduce developers’ costs so they can charge lower rents.
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they → play → rents
JH Brawner, where Bell’s husband works, advises public housing authorities that are putting together subsidized housing deals.
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that → work → deals
The company’s responsibilities have included negotiating acquisitions, structuring deals, ensuring project appraisals are completed and collaborating with the state agency that Bell leads.
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Bell → include → that
Crites joined JH Brawner in 2023 after jobs with local housing authorities in Oregon, Washington and Ohio.
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Crites → join → Oregon
He and Bell own a home together in the Portland suburbs, records show.
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records → own → suburbs
JH Brawner says on its website that it worked in Oregon as a development and financial consultant on Park Place, a 200-unit project being built by the housing authority in Clackamas County with $36 million in state funding.
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it → say → funding
Another project in Washington County, Aloha 209th, is awaiting a $17.5 million subsidy from the state.
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project → await → state
A spokesperson for Clackamas County said the housing authority there “did not advocate or discuss the Park Place project or application with Andrea Bell” and that the county hired JH Brawner as a consultant before Crites joined the firm.
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Crites → say → firm
The company was involved in two other state-backed projects for Washington County that were well into the financing process before Crites started working for JH Brawner.
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Crites → involve → Brawner
Work continued on both as recently as last year, according to JH Brawner’s website.
uncertain
Work → continue → website
Bell’s agency adopted a new policy in 2024 that effectively reduces its discretion over which projects get funded, moving from a competitive bidding model to one that gives money to eligible projects in the order that applications were received.
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applications → adopt → order
But at least one developer has asked Bell’s agency to exercise its discretion.
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developer → ask → discretion
The housing authority in Washington County in suburban Portland, which is using JH Brawner as a consultant on the Aloha 209th project, is not due to get its $17.5 million from the state until at least 2028.
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which → use → 2028
Molly Rogers, executive director of the county’s housing authority, said in a June public meeting that she had contacted Bell about the project and the county’s desire to get state money sooner.
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she → say → money
…and 11 more, not listed.
The Aporia
