Actions have been taken to end the Rhode Island housing crisis through a suite of housing bills passed by Speaker of the Assembly Joseph Shekarchi on March 7.
The 15-bill package of legislation aims to make the housing approval process more effective, zoning more flexible and to make the best use of existing buildings, according to a March 7 press release. Rhode Island is currently ranked last in new housing permits, which Shekarchi said is catching up to us.
Most impactful for students, Bill 2024-H 7951, sponsored by Rep. Robert E. Craven, will clarify the circumstances in which a municipality can limit accepting and hearing development applications. This bill seeks to ease the process of approving building permits, taking down some red tape for homeowners and developers.
These bills pair with Governor Dan McKee’s efforts to increase long term infrastructure via ballot initiatives. One plan on November’s ballot will allow the state to borrow $100 million to increase affordable and middle-income housing production.
The overall goal is to make housing more accessible, Shekarchi said.
“The ramifications of Rhode Island’s housing crisis are broad,” Shekarchi said. “While its impact is most directly felt by those facing unprecedented barriers to home ownership, each and every Rhode Islander is affected.”
One of the groups facing housing barriers is students, particularly those at the University of Rhode Island. In the midst of a housing scramble, Student Sen. Chris Hoover said the Rhode Island government left students out to dry. Hoover said these bills won’t alleviate the real problem: the housing ordinances.
The town of Narragansett passed an ordinance in 2023 limiting a single family residence to three renters. The ordinance has gotten backlash from students due to the financial burden it’s placed on them.
“They’re paying astronomically more,” Hoover said. “I’m personally paying $350 more per person at my house than I was last year.”
The ordinance has driven supply down and demand much higher, Hoover said. As a student senator, Hoover has had a front row seat to the ramifications of housing issues.
“I know students who have transferred from URI to go somewhere else because they weren’t guaranteed housing,” Hoover said.
Hoover sits as the chair of the External Affairs Committee in the student senate. Throughout the semester, he has been working on passing legislation in the State House to reverse the Narragansett housing ordinance.
“I think what’s really going to be big is this bill I’ve been vocally testifying for with George Nonis and the Narragansett 2100 Foundation that will literally take away these ordinances up to five people,” Hoover said.
Nonis is the president and director of Narragansett 2100, a non-profit composed of property managers and landlords with the goal of improving community relations, according to their mission statement.
Portions of the website are dedicated to assisting URI students finding off campus housing, and a letter to students was posted by Hoover and former student body President Ramez Rizk.
While the housing crisis is being tackled both locally and at the state level, both sectors agree its roots run deep.
“Our housing and homelessness crisis has been decades in the making and will take a long-term, sustained effort to fix,” Shekarchi said.
For more information on the suite of housing bills, visit www.rilegislature.gov .