COLUMBIA -- The House gave final approval Wednesday to a bill that would create a division of affordable housing under the lieutenant governor's office, an idea swiftly criticized as unnecessary by a spokesman for Gov. Mark Sanford and a Senate leader.

The move would bypass the state housing agency and put the issue of housing for low-income people under Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer, where it would get more attention, said Rep. Harold Mitchell of Spartanburg, the bill's chief sponsor.

The bill has 48 sponsors in the House, including most members of the Legislative Black Caucus. The bill goes to the Senate next.

Statewide, the need for affordable housing has overwhelmed the supply. In 2001, the state's chief housing agency for the poor -- the State Housing Finance and Development Authority -- provided 24,312 units, but needed 346,000 more, according to the agency. More than 42,000 units lacked heating fuel or had incomplete plumbing or incomplete kitchens. Another 34,000 were overcrowded, according to a 2004 housing-needs report.

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"Affordable housing is definitely a need in South Carolina, especially among African-Americans," said Bill Whitney, president of the Urban League of the Upstate.

Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the legislation "doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

"To create an entirely new division and place it somewhere other than the State Housing Authority runs completely counter to what we've been talking about for the better part of four years, which is government restructuring and government efficiency," Sawyer said.

The bill passed Wednesday would create a Division of Affordable Housing, to be supported by a 15-member advisory commission, and run by a director appointed by the lieutenant governor, according to the bill. The commission could appoint task forces on the issue of housing and use private and public funds in addition to any money appropriated by lawmakers.

"Affordable housing is a huge issue in this state," said Mitchell, who chairs the Spartanburg Housing Development Corporation. "There is a lot of duplication of services and we needed to bring together all these agencies and come up with a strategy for the state."

He said the lieutenant governor's office was chosen because of the success the Office of Aging has enjoyed in moving there.

In South Carolina, the lieutenant governor is considered a part-time position whose primary constitutional jobs are to preside over the Senate and step in for the governor should he no longer be able to serve. In 2004, the Legislature transferred the Commission on Aging and its staff to Bauer's office from the state Department of Health and Human Services.

Mitchell said he believes having organizations working on the issues of the elderly and affordable housing in the same office is a natural fit.

Mike Easterday, Bauer's chief of staff, said Mitchell came to Bauer's office about the legislation after saying he was impressed with how the Office of Aging was run.

"It's not something he asked for, therefore he hasn't really been weighing in on it," Easterday said of the lieutenant governor.

Whitney said the housing authority has had problems dealing with the poor.

"One of the things we have not had in South Carolina has been a structure that has really dealt with affordable housing," Whitney said. "The State Housing Finance and Development Authority has not done, I think, what it should have done over the years."

A 2004 state audit found the agency improperly operated a nonprofit corporation and used it to try and buy an office building for its staff. The agency also approved projects that did not qualify for assistance, and failed to inspect or monitor many projects, the Legislative Audit Council reported.

Charles Small, chairman of the State Housing Authority, said the legislation is different than what he had been told it would be. He declined to comment, saying he wanted to know more about the bill.

His agency invested $320 million in 4,149 affordable housing units in the last fiscal year, according to Andy Laurent, executive director of the agency.

Sen. David Thomas, a Greenville Republican who once ran for lieutenant governor, said problems with the housing agency do not justify creating a new organization and placing it in the lieutenant governor's office.

"That is totally senseless," he said. "The office of lieutenant governor is a part-time position," he said. "It is not meant to be a constitutional position where you have agencies under your control. That has not been the history of the office. To try and create some status for the lieutenant governor to try and pretend like the lieutenant governor is anything other than a bully pulpit for significant issues, I think is just a waste."