R.I. to receive $3M to create affordable rental housing

R.I. SEN. JACK F. REED said Wednesday that Rhode Island will receive $3 million this year to help create affordable rental housing in communities throughout the state. / BLOOMBERG NEWS FILE PHOTO/ANDREW HARRER
R.I. SEN. JACK F. REED said Wednesday that Rhode Island will receive $3 million this year to help create affordable rental housing in communities throughout the state. / BLOOMBERG NEWS FILE PHOTO/ANDREW HARRER

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island will receive $3 million this year to help create affordable rental housing in communities throughout the state, thanks to a law written by U.S. Sen. Jack F. Reed.
Reed created the National Housing Trust Fund in 2008 as part of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, to enable housing agencies to build, preserve and rehabilitate affordable housing for residents with limited means.
“I created the Housing Trust Fund to provide communities with the resources they need to help address the affordable housing shortage. Many of our neighbors who work hard still can’t afford their rents, and our state has a real need for more affordable housing opportunities,” Reed said in a statement.

Funds are administered by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This year, the NHTF will provide more than $170 million to states to build, preserve and rehabilitate rental homes for extremely low income households, those with incomes at or below 30 percent of the median income in the area.
To ensure that Rhode Island and other small states received a fair amount of funding, Reed included a small state minimum of $3 million in the authorizing legislation.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2016 State Housing Profile for Rhode Island shows that 41 percent of Rhode Island households rent their homes and that in order to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent within the state, renters need to earn $18.49 per hour, which is almost double Rhode Island’s minimum wage of $9.60 per hour.

A recent report by HousingWorks RI also found that roughly 3,500 units of new affordable housing are necessary each year to meet the needs of Rhode Islanders, particularly millennials and retired adults, through 2025.

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