ANNE BERMAN, director of real estate for the R.I. Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp., received the 2023 Joseph A. Caffey Award from the Housing Network of Rhode Island at the nonprofit’s annual meeting on June 5. The award celebrates exemplary leadership and impact on the community development field within Rhode Island.
What does receiving the Caffey Award from the Housing Network of Rhode Island mean to you? I am honored and thrilled to have been selected by the Housing Network to receive the Joseph Caffey award. Joe was a visionary who changed the landscape of Providence, revitalized neighborhoods and delivered high-quality affordable housing to families across the state. Being recognized by the Housing Network, the trade association for the nonprofit housing developers in Rhode Island, means a lot to me. I began my career working for nonprofit community development entities, so I know how challenging their jobs can be. I have the utmost respect for the work the network members undertake every day. I appreciate their recognition of my efforts as an affordable housing lender to help achieve our collective goals of creating more affordable housing throughout the state.
Housing notwithstanding, in what ways have you helped support the community at-large over the years? Community engagement and volunteering is something I was exposed to at an early age. Both of my parents were involved with social service and educational organizations, so it’s always been part of who I am. I have volunteered with a number of organizations in both Rhode Island and Florida, most recently completing a nine-year engagement with Child & Family Services, my final two years as board chair.
The state is now making affordable housing a priority. How vital is it for more affordable housing to be constructed in Rhode Island? The need for affordable housing cannot be overstated. According to the report issued by the Rhode Island Foundation in April, Rhode Island needs more than 20,000 affordable housing units. More than one-third of households in the state are cost-burdened and they pay more than 30% of their income for housing. This means that these families have less money to spend on food, health care, their children’s educational enrichment and all the things that many of us take for granted. It also means there is less money in general flowing into the economy to support our small businesses. I am very pleased with the investments that the governor and the legislature have made in affordable housing, and I look forward to seeing the state invest even more in the future given the enormity of the need.
Moving forward, what other community initiatives do you have in the works? In May of this year, R.I. Housing approved funding for more than 1,400 units of housing. My focus will be on working with our development partners to move their projects through the development pipeline so we can begin construction and bring units online for the state’s underhoused and cost-burdened families.
