BLOCK ISLAND – Block Island may have the state’s highest housing costs, but it is also the only town in Rhode Island to meet the state goal of having 10 percent of housing qualify as affordable.
“Meeting this very important goal is an incredible achievement, but it is just the beginning,” Susan Bodington, deputy director of programs for Rhode Island Housing, told Providence Business News in an e-mail interview last week. “We are also very excited that many other communities are making inroads, creating safe homes all Rhode Islanders can afford.”
Block Island isn’t the first community in the state to achieve that goal. Five of Rhode Island’s eight cities exceeded the 10-percent goal in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available: Central Falls, where 11.4 percent of housing was affordable; East Providence, with 10.9 percent; Newport, with the state’s highest rate of 17.3 percent; Providence, with 14.5 percent; and Woonsocket, with 16.5 percent. (The other three cities are Cranston, where 5.6 percent of housing was affordable; Pawtucket, with 8.3 percent; and Warwick, with 5.4 percent.)
Middletown was the first town to achieve that goal, though it later fell back below the threshold as more higher-priced homes were built. But affordable housing units still made up 9.1 percent of its year-round housing supply in 2006.
Posted Jan. 2, 2008
Public Policy
Block Island meets R.I. affordable-housing goal
BLOCK ISLAND – Block Island may have the state’s highest housing costs, but it is also about to be the only town in Rhode Island to meet the state goal of having 10 percent of year-round housing qualify as affordable, according to Rhode Island Housing.
“Meeting this very important goal is an incredible achievement, but it is just the beginning,” Susan Bodington, deputy director of programs for Rhode Island Housing, told Providence Business News in an e-mail interview today. “We are also very excited that many other communities are making inroads, creating safe homes all Rhode Islanders can afford.”
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
But the island won’t be the first community to reach the state’s 10-percent goal. Five of Rhode Island’s eight cities exceeded the 10-percent goal in 2006, the latest year for which figures are available: Central Falls, where 11.4 percent of housing was affordable; East Providence, with 10.9 percent; Newport, with the state’s highest rate of 17.3 percent; Providence, with 14.5 percent; and Woonsocket, with 16.5 percent. (The other three cities are Cranston, where 5.6 percent of housing was affordable; Pawtucket, with 8.3 percent; and Warwick, with 5.4 percent.)
Middletown was the first town to achieve that goal, although it later fell back below that threshold as more higher-priced homes were built. But affordable housing units still made up 9.1 percent of its year-round housing supply in 2006.
Block Island had only 36 affordable housing units in 2006, or 7.2 percent of the island’s non-seasonal housing, the agency’s figures show.
“If we can boost affordable housing on Block Island, we should be able to do it across the state,” Bodington said. Turnover is low and prices high on the island, where two houses sold last year for a median price of $1.25 million, according to the Associated Press. About two-thirds of the homes are owned by summer visitors, leaving less than 500 homes for the nearly 1,000 year-round residents.
A longer version of this article was published last week on www.PBN.com.
