If neighborhoods in Providence are experiencing gentrification, as a recent report suggests, what can reasonably be done to help existing residents stay in their homes?
Housing advocates have a few ideas.
A recent forum on gentrification, sponsored by HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University, included discussion of the following: building more housing that is affordable to all segments of a neighborhood, making sure affordable housing stays that way and incorporating workforce or market-rate housing into new development.
Another possibility: renegotiating future “community benefits agreements” with nonprofit educational and medical institutions in the city, to address housing concerns.
“Colleges and universities … have large populations who need housing. How do we get them more engaged and involved?” said Brenda Clement, director of HousingWorks RI.
“Hospitals now have a community-benefits agreement,” she said. “The thought was, can that be a tool? Can we talk more about housing?”
The forum followed the release of a HousingWorks RI report that identified several neighborhoods in Providence showing evidence of gentrification, or where the median rent was increasing at a pace exceeding the city average, and in concert with other factors, such as an increase in young, college-educated residents.
The report, authored by Fay Strongin as an adaptation of her thesis for a degree at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, found that while several neighborhoods are experiencing gentrification, the rate is not as fast as it is in super-heated markets such as New York.
What can Providence do? The City Council has already moved forward with two housing-related panels. One commission is addressing homelessness. Another, through a resolution authorized in April, will study the quality and affordability of city housing.
There is no single solution, said Barbara Fields, executive director of R.I. Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp.
More construction is one option, she said.
“Multiple strategies must be deployed. But certainly, at the top of our list would be building housing for all income levels,” she said. “We have been a state that was ranked last in the nation, six years running, on the number of building permits. There simply hasn’t been enough development.”
The HousingWorks RI forum was designed to kick off the discussion and is part of a newly launched series that will examine contemporary issues in housing, according to Clement.
Should developers of new apartments in the city be required to include a set percentage for affordable units? This isn’t required now.
“We think those are critical tools,” said Clement. “Our conversation with other housing advocates in really hot markets [such as] Seattle and other places, their recommendations are ‘get those tools in place now’ before your market heats up to overboiling.”
