The coastal town of Little Compton has long been a peaceful retreat from urban life, known for its rural landscapes, ancient stone walls and a lack of any traffic lights. But Patrick Bowen says the idyllic town also has a problem.
Bowen, a Little Compton native, says it used to be that the year-round working-class residents of the tiny town – tradesmen, domestic help, farmers and service workers – often brushed shoulders with the wealthy summer visitors in their travels around town.
That doesn’t happen much these days. Most of the workers have left as real estate prices have skyrocketed, affordable almost exclusively to well-heeled vacationers looking for a second or third home.
As young, middle-class families have been priced out, the town’s already minuscule school enrollment has declined further and some of the smattering of small businesses in town have closed.
Bowen is president of the Little Compton Housing Trust, a volunteer organization established in 2006 to fix the housing quandary. It’s been an uphill battle for the trust, as the town prioritized preserving open space over building inexpensive housing.
According to the latest available state data, Little Compton had only nine homes that met the guideline for affordable housing as of 2023, representing less than 1% of the town’s housing stock.
“I want to see a town that is balanced,” Bowen lamented. “I want to see a place that I remember where there were less barriers between the working class and summer residents.”
Little Compton may be in a faraway southeastern corner of Rhode Island, but it’s not alone with its struggles – or, some would say, lack of motivation – to create affordable housing.
More than three decades after Rhode Island legislators passed a law decreeing that each of the state’s 39 cities and towns have at least 10% of its housing stock deemed affordable, few communities have yet to meet the stipulation.
According to R.I. Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp. data, only four communities – Providence, Newport, Woonsocket and Central Falls – exceed the threshold, as of 2023, the latest available data. Others come close, such as Burrillville (9.8%), West Warwick (8.8%) and Pawtucket (8.2%). Still others, such as Little Compton, fall far short.
For decades, that 10% goal had been largely ignored by cities and towns and by the state itself. But the law has been under new scrutiny as Rhode Island’s housing crisis has escalated.
Granted, the percentages of affordable housing are just one part of the complex effort to ease the cost of having a roof over one’s head.
Since fiscal 2022, the General Assembly has directed more than $330 million of its COVID-19 pandemic relief funding into housing production. Also, a $120 million housing bond issue was approved by statewide voters in November.
In 2023, lawmakers created a state low-income housing tax credit program, administered by R.I. Housing, to award lucrative credits to affordable-housing developers.
Structural changes have been made, too. Rhode Island has created a state housing department and added a housing secretary to the governor’s cabinet. In April, the R.I. Department of Housing released a draft of Housing 2030, the state’s five-year plan to ease the crisis.
What’s been slower to change in many communities are the factors that some say hinder the development of affordable housing, including restrictive zoning laws, local opposition, a lack of funding for infrastructure improvements to support growth and, more recently, rising housing construction costs.
The law that set the 10% threshold for municipalities – the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act – has been tweaked over the years, including a change in 2024 that allowed developers to quickly appeal in state courts a municipality’s rejection of affordable-housing plans. The change is intended to reduce yearslong delays.
Still, many cities and towns have been slow in their attempts to meet the 10% mark, and officials in some communities, from Johnston to Westerly, have continued to put up roadblocks to large-scale developments.
That’s left policymakers and others debating what levers still need to be pulled to get communities to improve their percentages.
“The law has not done what it was intended to do,” said Rep. June Speakman, D-Warren, chair of the House Commission on Housing Affordability. “Housing production in general has been abysmal since 2008.”
[caption id="attachment_496771" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
CONTINUED SUCCESS: Nonprofit developer One Neighborhood Builders recently broke ground on the Broad Street Homes project in Central Falls that will create 46 affordable housing units. The city already meets the goal of have 10% of its housing stock deemed affordable.
COURTESY ONE NEIGHBORHOOD BUILDERS[/caption]
SETTING SIGHTS
The situation is evolving.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi has made boosting housing production a top priority since taking over as speaker four years ago, leading the charge with legislative packages intended to streamline the process of housing production.
And the attention has had an effect.
As of now, R.I. Housing says it is providing financing to about 45 affordable-housing projects across the state – representing more than 2,000 units – that are either in the pipeline or under construction.
But the problem remains immense. A Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council analysis last fall determined that 24,000 additional affordable-housing units are needed to close the state’s gap in affordability.
“The attention is welcome, but now it’s about execution,” Melina Lodge, executive director of the Housing Network of Rhode Island, said of recent actions by state leaders. “We must stay focused on long-term systems change and avoid one-off solutions. If we can keep moving together, with urgency and collaboration, meaningful progress is within reach.”
Leaders acknowledge the problem will take more money, more time, and changes in local regulations and attitudes.
“We have years to go,” Shekarchi said.
The Low and Moderate Income Housing Act – or the LMIH Act – was perhaps one of the state’s earliest policies aimed at boosting the production of affordable housing.
Passed in 1991, it set the blanket 10% threshold for every community, defining affordable housing as projects subsidized with public money, deed restricted for at least 30 years and with renters who earn less than 80% of the area’s median income or homeowners who earn less than 120%.
Some municipalities have registered complaints. The state’s Housing 2030 plan notes that local officials have said the 10% threshold is unattainable in some communities due to infrastructure constraints, a lack of developable land or other development barriers.
But it’s not just an aspirational goal. There are consequences.
If less than 10% of a municipality’s residences qualify as affordable, the law limits the ability of municipalities to block affordable-housing developments – those with projects with at least 25% low- or moderate-income units.
Developers can use a streamlined process called a comprehensive permit to seek exemptions from local zoning regulations. And if denied by local governments, a developer can fast-track an appeal to state court.
The Housing 2030 plan acknowledges weaknesses in the LMIH Act, such as unintentionally deterring some cities and towns from approving market-rate developments for fear that they will lower a community’s affordable-housing ratio. That fear could constrain overall housing production.
Nevertheless, Housing 2030 stops short of recommending getting rid of the 10% goal. Instead, Housing 2030 calls for a more nuanced approach, with annual goals for communities that have not reached the 10% threshold set at between 0.4% and 0.8%, depending on their community’s potential for new housing growth.
[caption id="attachment_496772" align="aligncenter" width="1024"]
COMING UP SHORT
Only four communities reached the
requirement of maintaining at least 10% of
their year-round housing stock as affordable housing in 2023, the most recent data available. In the coming weeks, the R.I. Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp. is preparing to release its 2024 data using a revised calculation. / SOURCE: R.I. HOUSING AND
MORTGAGE FINANCE CORP.[/caption]
COOPERATION SOUGHT
Central Falls is one of the few municipalities to exceed the 10% requirement. And there are more projects in the pipeline.
Frank Spinella, who serves as the city’s housing consultant, attributes this to Mayor Maria Rivera’s focus on housing.
“It is very unique to have an administration that recognizes that everything spurs from a good house,” Spinella said.
Work is under way now at 44 Central St. to construct 25 affordable units, and another 46-unit project broke ground at two locations along Broad Street. In addition, there's a request for proposals for redevelopment at the demolished Osram-Sylvania factory that will include affordable and market-rate units.
The city still needs more, officials say, far more than the 10% goal.
About 3,800 households in Central Falls are cost-burdened – meaning more than 30% of the family income is spent on housing, according the 2024 Fact Book of Housing Works RI, a public policy organization at Roger Williams University.
The Housing 2030, with a target of issuing 15,000 building permits statewide over the next five years, is ambitious yet feasible, housing experts say.
“To achieve that goal, all 39 municipalities have to buy into this plan and deliver on their portion,” Lodge said.
Housing Secretary Deborah J.Goddard, who has been on the job less than a year, is confident cities and towns will now cooperate because of the collaborative tone struck in Housing 2030. Shekarchi is less optimistic, noting that some municipalities have consistently pushed back against affordable-housing development.
“They don’t seem to have a real eagerness to participate in the process at all,” he said.
Indeed, in Johnston, Mayor Joseph Polisena Jr. is thwarting plans for a 252-unit affordable-housing development by taking the parcel in question through eminent domain for a public safety complex.
The project, once slated for 31 acres of undeveloped land along George Waterman Road, would have propelled the town – which had 7.9% affordable housing as of 2023 – close to the 10% threshold.
Now the landowners, the Santoro family, have filed a lawsuit in federal court. Representatives from both sides did not respond to a request for comment.
And there’s a proposed 2,300-unit development – 30% of the units are income-restricted – at the Winnapaug Country Club in Westerly. The proposal was rejected by the town’s planning board in July 2024 following pushback from local residents who complained that the project’s density would be out of character with the area and would eliminate green space.
Because Westerly’s percentage of affordable homes stands at 5%, the land owner, Winn Properties LLC, has filed an appeal directly to Superior Court, according to Winn Properties lawyer Matthew Landry.
“I think the state is making strides in streamlining the permitting process for developers but is still facing pushback from municipalities charged with reviewing these projects,” Landry told Providence Business News.
That’s with good reason, according to Steven Frias, president of the Cranston Plan Commission.
Affordable-housing developments add students to local schools, which can cost taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars per student each year, he says. But the property tax revenue from affordable-housing developments covers just a fraction of the costs.
In addition, Frias has spoken out against legislation to amend the LMIH Act to limit the ability of all municipalities to block affordable-housing developments, not just those below the 10% threshold.
That change, introduced by Shekarchi, would be a “disincentive” for municipalities to strive to reach the 10% mark, Frias says.
Randy R. Rossi, executive director for the Rhode Island League of Cities and Towns, says state policymakers also need to focus on matters away from housing production, namely providing support for upgrades to roads, and water, sewer and stormwater systems.
“One of the primary challenges facing all communities is the urgent need for infrastructure improvements … to support responsible and sustainable growth,” Rossi said.
In addition, he says growing municipalities need to have the ability to override the 4% cap on how much cities and towns can increase property tax revenue annually to cover the services provided for new housing. A bill to do just that was passed by the House on May 1, but no action has been taken by the Senate as of June 4.
“If a community needs new revenues to meet the needs of these new residents, the tax burden is now placed on current residents,” Rossi said.
SHIFTING ATTITUDES
Goddard says the Housing 2030 plan will lean on providing discretionary funds to communities that meet their production goals. Other methods are being explored too, such as giving communities achieving housing production goals preference in state infrastructure funding and other state grants.
There is also an element of Housing 2030 requiring cities and towns to submit updated comprehensive plans that include a “realistic path” to the state’s housing goals.
Beyond policy, Goddard wants to recruit employers to help persuade local officials to act.
“We need a voice that’s broader than the state government,” she said. “They bring tax base; they bring jobs. … They can’t retain their workforce if there isn’t some bending to get housing on the books.”
Rossi insists that, despite the data, communities are working toward that 10% goal now that new housing policies and resources have been enacted.
“Those numbers don’t change overnight, though,” he said. “Building hundreds of units of housing does take time for developers to complete.”
Some housing advocates say they’re seeing some of the legislative action in recent years starting to have an effect.
When Spinella, as a consultant for the nonprofit East Bay Community Development Corp., presented plans at a Warren Planning Board meeting last year for a 40-unit affordable-housing development on a former cornfield along Child Street, neighbors turned out to oppose it.
Objections ranged from fears that the project, dubbed Penny Lane, would lower the values of surrounding properties to the potential of increased crime to the lack of public transit in the area to serve the renters.
“Every community I’ve ever worked in, the undercurrent is ‘those people,’ ” Spinella said. “It’s a tactic to try to stop the development of affordable housing by scaring people.”
Initially, the board approved the application under the condition that the density of the proposal be dropped to 25 units – an amount that would have made the project unfeasible.
Weeks later, the board reversed that decision because it would have likely been overturned under the new appeal system instituted in situations where municipalities don’t meet the 10% threshold. Only 3.8% of Warren’s housing stock is deemed affordable.
The project is now moving ahead.
Some state officials and housing advocates say they’re already seeing a shift in attitude, as people get a clearer understanding of affordable housing and how it benefits a community.
That’s playing out in Narragansett, where town voters authorized a $3 million housing bond in November and elected a slate of pro-housing production candidates to the town council.
As of 2023, only 3.8% of Narragansett’s housing stock was deemed affordable, but Council President Alexander Menzies says town officials are now focused on working toward the 10% goal.
“We know families want to come into our community and raise their children here,” he said. “The problem is that less and less people are affording to live here every year. Improving the education on what affordable housing looks like to Narragansett residents, and all residents around the state, is the key to this success.”
Frank Shea, executive director of the nonprofit Women’s Development Corp., says he’s also seen that some communities are seemingly becoming more receptive.
For example, the WDC has fought for years to build 44 units of low- and moderate-income housing off Breakneck Hill Road in Lincoln but faced pushback from both residents in a neighboring condo complex – who expressed concerns about the project’s density and increased traffic – and the town.
The Lincoln Planning Board rejected WDC’s project in October 2020, which led to an appeal process that involved a now-defunct State Housing Appeals Board and three years of hearings and court filings. That ended with the Superior Court ruling in favor of the town in 2023 because of an error by the appeals board.
But now that the comprehensive permitting process has been streamlined, the WDC has another chance to seek approvals from the town. In the meantime, the neighboring condo association no longer opposes the project.
This time, “we expect to have a more productive and more collaborative conversation” with the town, Shea said.
In Little Compton, an attitude change has been more difficult to see, according to Bowen.
“In a conservative, sort of rural community, the mindset is people should be able to pull themselves up by the bootstraps,” he said.
Also, the town lacks municipal sewer and water systems, which works against developing affordable homes quickly. That said, the town’s land trust has plans in the works to build several affordable houses.
“As I stand here, we have five proposed single-family homes, and I wouldn’t have said that five years ago,” he said.
