Shekarchi unveils another big slate of housing bills
PROVIDENCE - House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi on Thursday debuted his latest housing policy legislative package aimed at improving Rhode Island’s worst-in-the-nation rate of new home construction.
“Look around. Have we solved the problem?” Shekarchi asked a packed room at the State House.
“No. Not even close ... Our housing and homelessness crisis didn’t happen overnight. It was decades in the making and unfortunately may get worse as interest rates come down.”
The new 15-bill housing package – coming on the heels of a 14-bill housing agenda last year – would legalize homes in commercial areas and modular houses in single-family neighborhoods, and would also put limits how long municipalities can impose a construction moratorium.
Last year Rhode Island was 50th in the nation for per capita new housing units approved for construction, according to census figures.
Although Shekarchi hasn’t named a specific target for new construction, he described the current rate of around 1,200 units permitted a year “unacceptable.”
The package comes as cities and towns are still adjusting to changes in state law – many of them technical and related to how local permitting bodies operate – made by Shekarchi’s previous housing package.
Because most of those changes went into effect just a few months ago, it is hard to evaluate their impact or say whether they have moved the needle on home production the way Shekarchi hoped they would.
Asked what difference last year’s changes are making on the ground, Shekarchi pointed to Warren, where planners reversed their decision to shrink a proposed affordable development after realizing the newly enacted laws could leave them vulnerable to legal challenge.
“You are seeing more density and new housing being built,” he said.
The one bill in last year’s House housing package that didn’t become law would have allowed homeowners to put accessory apartments or “granny flats” on their properties.
After being killed by the Senate last year, it has already been passed by the House this year and is one of Shekarchi’s top priorities.
He described limiting accessory units to owner-occupied properties a