15,000 new homes must be built over five years to fix housing shortage in R.I., according to a new state plan - The Boston Globe (2025)

The new housing goal is ambitious, but is expected to face an uphill battle. High interest rates and a shaky economic landscape are increasing the cost of land, materials, and labor, making it more difficult and pricier than ever to finance construction. Some municipalities have also been fighting the state’s efforts to make it easier to build, even trying to circumvent Rhode Island’s new laws to address housing development.

“When housing development does not meet demand... It puts a roadblock in what we call the road to prosperity,” said McKee in a State House event that announced the release of the plan. “That needs to change.”

But McKee’s plan falls short of what advocates and researchers have claimed Rhode Island needs to truly close the affordability gap, which would require the construction of an additional 24,000 units. That number is only expected to grow, experts say.

“While this plan lays down a roadmap to address the housing crisis through funding and municipal engagement that will increase the speed-to-market of these investments, it clearly only gets us so far,” said Jeanne Cola, senior executive director of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, a community development financial institution.

Across the state and all income levels, about one-third of households are cost-burdened already, which means they are spending more than 30 percent of their income on housing-related expenses alone. Homelessness is also on the rise, doubling in the last five years.

The 15,000 figure was developed by McKee’s new state Department of Housing, an advisory committee of developers and nonprofit leaders, and state-funded consultants as part of a comprehensive state housing plan that’s been at least two years in the works.

The first comprehensive housing plan for Rhode Island since 2006 outlines how many units the state wants to add in each municipality, and requires that each municipality meet two annual production goals that include the total number of units, and the production of affordable homes. The units include affordable rental homes, middle-market housing, and homeownership opportunities.

For instance, the state’s report says by 2030, Warren needs to add 110 units of housing, Narragansett needs to add 197, and Barrington 128 units.

Larger cities have loftier goals: Providence will need to add 3,010 more units, Pawtucket 1,353 more units, and Cranston 1,367 units.

The plan “is very bold,” said Senator Jacob Bissaillon, who chairs the Senate Housing and Municipal Government Committee.

For others, it’s not enough.

“It’s never enough housing for me,” said House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi. “Personally, even 24,000 units seems to be on the low end.”

Cola said the Local Initiatives Support Corporation invested $127 million in the Rhode Island economy in 2024, which was mostly through affordable housing development. Those dollars coupled with the state’s $120 million housing bond that passed last fall, and the allocation of $219 million in federal funds for the production and preservation of housing units, also “only go so far,” she said.

“Year after year we fall short of the goal,” said Cola.

Yet the state’s plan does not lay out a strategy to hold municipalities accountable. For the last 30 years, the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act has called for a minimum of 10 percent of the housing supply in Rhode Island’s 39 communities to be classified as “affordable.” Some communities have been eager to create new housing units, but others have pushed back. Only four communities have achieved that mandatory minimum: Providence, Central Falls, Woonsocket, and Newport.

Municipalities will be expected to explain shortfalls, and the state will “explore incentives” to reward progress. These incentives could include preferences for state infrastructure funding programs and other state grants.

If the state were to hit the McKee administration’s targets, it would ease pressure on the market, but these new goals won’t solve the housing crisis altogether.

Instead, the report laid out potential areas of reform, which include antiquated zoning laws. The report said the state should allow accessory-dwelling units — also called granny flats or ADUs — and duplexes by right in any zone where residential uses are allowed; reduce parking minimums; waive development application fees for middle-market and affordable housing projects; and allow higher building heights. Many of these strategies will require passage in the General Assembly, which will end its session in June and break until 2026.

Local zoning rules currently present barriers to middle-market housing production: 87 percent of Rhode Island is zoned only for single-family homes by right, Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard said.

The plan breaks down McKee’s goals to reach 15,000 units, which include: permitting 1,000 new units available for home ownership priced below $400,000 each, permitting 525 ADUs (which would triple recent production), and doubling the state’s permitting of other types of middle-market homes by 2030.

The plan also factored in financing production of 2,250 affordable rental homes — the most significant demand in Rhode Island, along with other parts of New England. The plan says the state would finance 375 permanent supportive housing units and 500 units affordable to people with extremely low incomes.

“I hear ‘my kids, my grandkids, cannot afford to live in Rhode Island,’” said Goddard, who became secretary in 2024 when this housing plan was already in the works. “How did we get here? Some of this is not new... We have not built enough. Simple as that.”

This story has been updated with comments from Jeanne Cola and K. Joseph Shekarchi.

Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.