The Great Recession is often pointed to as when construction of new single-family homes precipitously dropped, and from which the state has yet to recover. While broadly true, in the early 2000s – well before the beginning of the recession in 2008 – the state ranked last in the nation in housing production.
The roots of the long decline in new single-family housing stretch back nearly 30 years, as this week’s cover story shows.
That’s a long time not to come up with workable solutions to a problem that has put home ownership out of reach for too many, in a state filled with expensive waterfront housing.
Limited land is only partly to blame. Restrictive zoning and high construction and infrastructure costs also discourage builders.
Brenda Clement, director of HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University, says a new infrastructure program to ease local building costs needs funding. She adds the state also needs a housing commissioner. After a generation-long decline, can anyone doubt the latter?