Exeter affordable housing complex exceeds state threshold
EXETER — For 11 years, since before her son was even conceived, Christine Jennings and her husband had been on a variety of affordable housing waitlists.
The couple were living with their son and cat in Warwick in August 2022 when an opportunity popped up on the Housing Authority of Newport’s waiting list − a two-bedroom apartment in Exeter. They jumped on the application because around the same time, their lease was up and their landlord was increasing the rent, from $1,350 to $2,000.
“The waiting list is now so long, they don’t give you a number, they just tell you when your name pops up,” Jennings said.
Jennings is hardly alone in facing drastic rent increases. The median cost to buy a house has gone up 74% since January 2019 at the same time rents have been increasing across the state.
Now, Jennings is paying slightly lower rent than she did before the pandemic
sent prices spiraling, $1,067 a month.
Jennings’ apartment, a two-bedroom with a porch, is part of a 40-unit complex at 6 Pine View Lane that the Women’s Development Corporation opened at the end of December, a 10-building complex of quadplexes.
The Women’s Development Corporation’s work to build the complex started six years ago, in 2017, when the group looked to purchase the property from a for-profit developer. That developer was looking to build the same number of units, 40, but with the minimum number of income-restricted units required for a comprehensive permit, 10 (25%), with the rest being market rate, Women’s Development Corporation Executive Director Frank Shea said.
Women’s Development Corporation signed a purchase and sale agreement at the start of 2019, received the federal tax credits in the summer of 2020, received final town approval in April 2021 and started construction in September of that year.
Why is the development 40 units?
The size of the development was dictated by two things. The site itself was only big enough for 40 units because it required a septic system, a fire suppression system, hooking into a well being used nearby and a big parking lot, Shea said.
When the development was first conceived, and then financed, it had to rely, for the majority of the funding on federal 4% low-income housing tax credits. Stopping at 40 units also made sense because that is about the maximum number a developer can build using just the federal tax credits, without additional large-scale state subsidies.
RI Housing did help with much of the financing on the project and stepped in near the onset of the pandemic to front money for building supplies, like windows, to prevent cost overruns as prices were expected to drastically increase with supply-chain shutdowns, Shea said.
The development puts Exeter above the 10% threshold of affordable housing stock, required by the state.
How affordable are the Pine View Street apartments?
All of the 40 units in the apartment complex are considered “affordable” under state law, with people making 60% or less of the area median income.
Of the 40 units, 32 are restricted to people making 60% or less of the area median income, five are restricted to people making 50% or less and three are for people making 30% or less.
Rhode island median income limits for all cities and towns except Hopkinton, New Shoreham, Westerly, Newport, Portsmouth and Middletown.
Settling in to a new community
Exeter Social Services Director Jessica DeMartino said much of her work with the new residents of the development has been helping them adjust to life in her town.
“The question most asked is, where are the best playgrounds and how do I register my kids for sports,” DeMartino said. “That seems to be what people are looking for help with right now.”
Other things people ask about are hiking trails and open spaces.
DeMartino also referred residents in town to the project when the applications first opened.
Since then, the waiting list has grown to 92 people and families, Shea said.
No one on the waiting list should expect to be moved up any time soon as it is likely the people who got into the apartments will not be moving out for years.
While people directly submitted applications, the Women’s Development Corporation also went through over 200 people on the Housing Authority of Newport’s waiting list, most of whom had found other housing or moved on. The Housing Authority of Newport is partially subsidizing the eight units for people at or below 50% of the area median income.