Dear Neighbors:
Today is Rhode Island Independence Day, the 249th anniversary of our first in the nation declaration of independence from England. This historic event took place in our neighborhood at the Old State House located at 150 Benefit Street. The next time you go by, take a moment to appreciate this rich part of our State’s heritage. In this week’s letter, I discuss Housing 2030, the Department of Housing’s recently published plan “to address the pressing housing challenges facing our state.”
A. The Plan’s Development History
As noted in a Senate Fiscal Office Report (p. 14), the June, 2022 budget appropriated $2 million to develop a comprehensive housing plan with an expected completion date of one year. Instead, the Housing Secretary (Mr. Saal) resigned in January, 2023, and Stefan Pryor was appointed to the position. In May, 2023 (as described in my District Letter), Mr. Pryor indicated that the plan would include a full assessment of the State’s housing shortage (spanning the spectrum from market rate housing, to worker housing, to low income housing, to shelter for people experiencing homelessness), benchmarks and goals to reach, and plans to achieve those benchmarks and goals. A few weeks before Mr. Pryor’s testimony, the Rhode Island Foundation issued a Report estimating the State’s affordable housing gap to be around 24,000 units.
The Housing 2030 Plan was officially released last month.
B. The Strengths Of The Housing 2030 Plan
The Housing 2030 plan contains valuable ideas. It identifies a broad range of causes for the current housing shortage, and available tools to respond to that shortage. It sets a goal of 15,000 new housing units in the next four years, a level designed to match the increasing housing needs of Rhode Islanders over that period. It recognizes that housing is a statewide problem that all Rhode Islanders understand, but that projects are often opposed by local communities. To address this, Housing 2030 apportions the 15,000 unit statewide expansion across the State’s communities based upon each one’s specific characteristics. It also proposes a State-level review of each community’s land use rules to ensure those rules are compatible with the community’s housing expansion target, while proposing the establishment of incentives to ensure compliance.
C. The Weaknesses Of The Housing 2030 Plan
I see two essential weaknesses in the Housing 2030 plan, namely its limited scope and its lack of specific information concerning implementation.
1. Limited Scope
Even though Secretary Pryor correctly observed in 2023 that Rhode Island currently has a massive affordable housing shortage and predicted that the forthcoming plan would identify and address it, Housing 2030 fails to do so. Instead, its scope is limited to building new housing (15,000 units) to accommodate future growth, without taking any steps to mitigate the current shortage (estimated at 24,000 units).
2. Lack Of A Specific Implementation Strategy
The “Implementation Plan” at pp. 50-53 of Housing 2030 lacks a clear strategy with budget, measurable goals, timelines and benchmarks. It identifies where we want to end up (15,000 more units apportioned among the State’s communities) without saying clearly how we will get there. In my experience, a successful comprehensive strategic plan must provide the reader with this type of specific information in order to determine whether the plan is realistic when presented, and whether it is making appropriate progress when implemented.
D. Conclusion
The Housing 2030 Plan is a useful step forward to address a complex issue. With that said, I see it more as a plan to make a partial plan. We have spent over $1 million and almost three years to produce this document. Going forward, I hope we can make greater progress in less time.