Could so-called “tiny homes” help solve Rhode Island’s affordable housing shortage? One business owner, VIBCO Inc. CEO and President Karl Wadensten, thinks so. He’s looking to build small, easy-to-construct rental housing units for employees he says are struggling like so many others to find affordable housing.
He’s tried to get state leaders interested in such unconventional housing solutions for years with little success. One reason is that there isn’t the same urgency at the state level to create more workforce housing as there is for single-family homes and housing for the homeless.
That has to change. Rhode Island has many housing needs, but economic growth is not sustainable in communities when workers can’t afford or find places where they want to live.
The state has provided some funding to boost workforce housing and developers are interested. But R.I. Secretary of Housing Stefan Pryor acknowledged in this week’s cover story the state needs to gather more data on this segment of the housing market.
To his credit, Mr. Wadensten isn’t waiting. He says small housing units can be built faster and cheaper on VIBCO’s Richmond campus than traditional housing. His idea includes using rent payments as part of employees’ retirement savings.
More tiny homes may not be the answer to a statewide housing crisis that has been decades in the making. But they could help one visionary business owner create affordable housing for his employees.
And if Mr. Wadensten can prove the concept, other employers will take notice.