This week’s edition of PBN offers a thought-provoking contrast.
The cover story, our yearly feature on the 10 most expensive home sales from the previous year, is topped by the stunning Seafair, a Depression-era mansion in Newport built on a rock outcropping into the Atlantic Ocean and bought by entertainer Jay Leno for $13.5 million.
The sale of Seafair, as well as the other nine homes on the list, are evidence that the value of Rhode Island real estate is recognized more and more across the nation, if not the world, as well it should be.
At the same time, the 5Q interview in this issue is with Melissa Sanzaro, the executive director of the Providence Housing Authority.
Founded in 1939, three years after Seafair was built, the PHA “is committed to developing and maintaining decent, safe and sanitary housing to address the economic and social needs of Providence residents,” according to the agency’s website.
According to Ms. Sanzaro, the average annual income for the more than 12,000 people served by the authority is $12,600.
This number should not come as a surprise, given Providence’s ranking in a recent Brookings Institution report as the city with the third-most income inequality among the top 100 metro areas in the nation.
The issue here is not that Rhode Island has some of the most highly sought-after and expensive housing in the nation. Rather, in a state where even modest housing is among the most expensive in the nation, the state’s economy is not doing a good job of distributing the gains of our ever-improving economy.