There’s no need to remind everyone that there remains a housing crisis in Rhode Island. Rents are too high, home prices are too high, and interest rates are too high. The Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council issued a report in late May suggesting that public dollars, spent more “efficiently,” could generate significantly more housing production and alleviate that crisis.
At first glance, RIPEC’s analysis makes sense. According to the report, the private market produces units at $303 per square foot, while state-supported developments produce units at $575 per square foot. This, however, is an apples-to-oranges comparison. RIPEC compares the unit cost of a simple market-rate duplex with that of an apartment building adapted from another use. As any builder will tell you, the fire and building code requirements are much higher for multifamily buildings, especially if they were built for a different purpose. In the end, though, dozens of families will have safe, clean, comfortable housing at a rent they can afford.
The report casts a critical eye on two subsidized projects with high unit costs. Is this due to wasteful government spending? Not at all. It is our government providing housing for Rhode Islanders that the market fails to serve.
One of these projects is The Paddock in Pawtucket, which RIPEC says “sacrifices housing footprint for social infrastructure.” Well, yes, it does. This project has within its walls a group home and a nurse’s office to provide housing for residents with disabilities who need 24/7 support services. And this project brings back to life as open space an abandoned racetrack that required significant environmental remediation. These are elements of the project that the private market will not take on. Of course, the costs will be higher. But so are the benefits. These are benefits that our government is obliged and designed to provide; the private market is not and will not.
The RIPEC report recommends that at least half of housing bond funds (should the voters approve a bond in November) be allocated to middle-income housing. It is true that middle-income families are facing a housing affordability crisis and that the government should take action to help. Indeed, there must be more assistance to help these families buy homes. Low-interest mortgage programs and down payment assistance programs can help, as can land use reform that allows for those duplexes, accessory dwelling units and lower minimum lot sizes. These policies help market-rate developments make sense financially without subsidies from the government.
Yes, it’s true that efforts to help the middle class will be less costly than helping those at the lowest income levels. But if we choose to shift the majority of resources toward middle-income earners, it’s a choice that means less for those struggling at the bottom, who have the least chance of success on their own.
RIPEC should be commended for supporting a direct rental subsidy program and a public developer. The first provides immediate relief; the second is a new source of financing that can help Rhode Island’s public housing authorities provide more affordable homes.
I should note that I am thankful to RIPEC for its participation in the House of Representatives Housing Affordability Commission, which I chair, and I look forward to discussing its findings when we next convene.
Perhaps RIPEC could take its research efforts a step further and use its considerable analytical resources to help us understand why the private market is not producing more homes for middle-income Rhode Islanders. That analysis could help shape policy solutions for the goal we share: housing for all, at a price we can afford.
June S. Speakman is a state representative from Warren.
