Rep. Katie Porter’s Questionable Housing Situation

Despite being on leave from the University of California Irvine since 2018, Rep. Katie Porter is still taking advantage of subsidized housing from the university. Porter lives in a four-bedroom, three-bath residence on the university’s campus that she purchased back in 2011 for $523,000 when she became a law professor for them. 

The university subsidized housing for faculty since the surrounding neighborhoods weren’t affordable for staff. Yet, that housing is only meant to extend to full-time professors who meet the requirement of continuing to teach at the university. 

Yet, despite the fact that since Porter entered Congress and hasn’t taught a single class at UCI, she is still receiving subsidized housing on the grounds that she’s “on leave.” Porter has shown no inclination for returning to the university unless she loses her seat in Congress, yet she doesn’t find it problematic that she’s taking advantage of a perk she no longer meets the requirements for. 

Associated Press: In an interview, Porter declined to say whether her housing arrangement was appropriate. 

Porter’s housing situation does not violate U.S. House ethics rules. But it cuts against the profile she has sought to cultivate in Washington as an ardent critic of a political system that allows “the wealthy and well-connected” to “live in one reality while the rest of us live in another,” as she wrote in an online fundraising solicitation in 2020.

…

Still, longtime government ethics watchdogs in Washington, including those with favorable opinions of the congresswoman, say it’s difficult squaring Porter’s housing situation with her crusading rhetoric.

“She has a reputation for being highly ethical and requiring others to live up to that standard,” said Craig Holman, a lobbyist for the Washington-based government watchdog group Public Citizen. “Let’s hope she is not running short of her own ethics with the university.”

While Porter receives a sweetheart deal as she sits in Congress instead of working in the classroom, her constituents are struggling with skyrocketing costs. 

Bottomline: For all of Katie Porter’s talk about living up to ethical standards, Porter doesn’t seem to mind taking advantage of the system for her own advantage.