When it comes to addressing Rhode Island’s housing crisis, there’s good news and there’s bad news.
In March, Rhode Islanders got two good pieces of housing news. First, voters approved a $65 million bond issue to invest in building desperately needed housing here. Second, House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and several of his colleagues introduced a historic package of bills designed to make it easier and faster to build housing.
Here’s the bad news: There’s a lot more work to do. With millions of dollars in federal stimulus aid on the way, there could be no better time to get started.
The stakes couldn’t be higher. A lack of supply of housing doesn’t just impact the vulnerable – it makes it hard for Rhode Islanders of all backgrounds and incomes to find housing. Most think of the housing crisis in terms of the evicted family sleeping in a car, the spouse leaving an abusive relationship living in a shelter, or the panhandler on the street.
But the harm of a housing market with too much demand and much too little supply goes further. Rhode Island’s housing crisis strangles our economic future by preventing new, young talent from moving here and forcing college students and other young people to move to somewhere with an abundant and affordable supply.
A lack of supply of housing doesn’t just impact the vulnerable.
How bad is it? According to HousingWorksRI, there are only three communities in the state where a household with an income of $50,000 can afford a fair-market, two-bedroom apartment. Thousands of families who earn well below that amount cannot afford an apartment in any of our 39 cities and towns.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation, but it has been years in the making. Rhode Island has never come close to matching the peak level of building permits issued in the 1980s. The resulting lack of supply puts rents and new homes out of reach for average-income families and even for some making six figures.
The seven bills introduced by Speaker Shekarchi are the beginning of an attempt to put us on the right path. Here’s what those measures do:
• There is a bill to prohibit housing discrimination against those who receive government assistance to pay their rent. It would help over 10,000 of our friends and neighbors, and it is long overdue.
• Legislation would make it easier for local planning boards to establish a quorum for votes, preventing delays in matters before them. A similar measure recently passed in Massachusetts with strong bipartisan support.
• A measure would extend for three years a tax exemption to encourage the development of affordable housing. The current law, which allows a tax exemption for properties under development until they are occupied, is set to expire on Dec. 31.
• A bill would require towns and cities to allow so-called “tiny homes” (the small accessory apartments that many build on their property) to be counted as affordable housing.
• Legislation would create a deputy secretary of commerce and housing within the R.I. Executive Office of Commerce. This person will be responsible for overseeing housing initiatives and developing a state housing plan that will include affordable housing, strong community building and neighborhood revitalization.
• Two bills would authorize studies into ways to address obstacles to increasing the supply of housing. One study would examine all aspects of land use, preservation, development, production, regulation, zoning, housing and the environment, making recommendations to promote sustainable and equitable economic growth while supporting efforts to achieve the state’s housing goals. Another study would review the Rhode Island Low and Moderate Income Housing Act, finding ways to update it to respond to today’s economic realities.
All of this is a good, serious start – but it is only a start – and the stakes are nothing less than the future of the Rhode Island economy. Let’s get to work.
Barbara Fields is a former executive director of R.I. Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp. She also served as administrator of Region 1 of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
