Dear Neighbors:
I hope you are managing well in this weekend’s storm. In this letter, I invite you to a community meeting two of my Senate colleagues and I will be hosting in November. I also discuss State initiatives to address the shortage of housing, especially affordable housing.
A. Community Meeting
On Wednesday, October 14 at 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Rochambeau Library on Hope Street, my Senate colleagues Meghan Kallman (District 15) and Tiara Mack (District 6) and I will host a community meeting to hear your concerns and priorities for the next General Assembly session. We will be delighted if you can join us.
B. The National Housing Affordability Crisis
We are living in the middle of a housing affordability crisis. This is a national issue, documented in recent books such as Yoni Appelbaum’s Stuck: How the Privileged and the Propertied Broke the Engine of American Opportunity. Mr. Appelbaum points to local land use laws as a major factor in the lack of housing generally, and affordable housing in particular, an example of a larger problem addressed by writers supporting the “abundance agenda” such as Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s book Abundance and our own neighborhood’s Mark Dunkelman in his book Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress—and How to Bring It Back. All of these authors note the dramatic increase in the cost of housing that exceeds income growth, attributing the problem to the sharp decline in development of new housing.
C. The Affordability Crisis In Rhode Island and Providence
1. Rhode Island
As noted in a recent Providence City Council report, Rhode Island ranks last nationally in new housing development per capita. In recent years, the General Assembly has taken steps to address this issue, establishing a Department of Housing which recently published its Housing Plan to add 15,000 units of new development by 2030. The plan assigns 5-year “municipal production goals” to each municipality in the form of a specific number of affordable housing units and overall housing units to develop by 2030. The plan anticipates developing a set of carrots (incentives) and sticks (mandates and/or penalties) to facilitate each municipality’s attainment of its expected housing production. To advance this project, voters will consider approving a $120 million Housing Development Bond, which includes funding earmarked specifically to low income housing and the possible establishment of a “public developer” model.
2. Providence
The City Council’s above-mentioned report proposes the passage of a rent stabilization ordinance, an issue that was prominent in this year’s Democratic primary for Providence Mayor. That debate highlighted the possible tension between the short-term goal of rent relief and the long-term goal of expanding the housing supply.
D. Local Reaction To State Initiatives
Recent experience in Johnston and Portsmouth provides examples of how local communities may resist participation in the Statewide project to increase housing stock generally and affordable housing in particular.
1. Johnston
The Town of Johnston attempted to block the development of an affordable housing project by condemning the planned site for construction of a new town hall. When the affordable housing developer sued, the federal court granted summary judgment in its favor, holding that the Town exceeded its legal authority to condemn.
2. Portsmouth
Last week, the Town of Portsmouth approved the filing of a Lawsuit challenging the State’s authority to regulate the local housing permitting process, which if successful would undermine the entire program. Portsmouth’s resistance is notable, given its status within Rhode Island Housing’s Inventory of low and moderate income housing: the town’s current housing stock of roughly 6,610 units includes 3.34% of low and moderate income housing (versus 16.67% in Providence and 9.94% statewide). The State’s housing plan calls for Portsmouth to produce a modest 26 units of additional affordable housing (0.4%) and 172 housing units altogether (2.6%) during 2026-30. Rather than cooperate, Portsmouth has elected to pay for what could be an expensive lawsuit, reflecting the depth of the Town Council’s will to resist. The ultimate court decision in this case will determine whether Rhode Island state government has the authority to address the State’s housing affordability crisis.
E. Conclusion
Across the country, and especially in Rhode Island, the housing affordability crisis is driven by a lack of supply. That lack of supply is driven at least in part by restrictive local land use regulations. The State’s Housing plan proposes a combination of carrots and sticks to relax those regulations to reduce the cost of new development. Some local communities are resisting this initiative; therefore, the courts may play a major role in determining the success of the State’s program.