PROVIDENCE − A bevy of income-restricted housing projects, and units in market-rate projects, received promises of grants and loans on Thursday, after RI Housing awarded millions in loans and tax credits, valued at over $100 million.
Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor, chairing the meeting, said the 1,000 units financed is not “trivial.” There will be another funding round for projects with applications open in the summer, with a pot of $10 million, including for site acquisition, pre-development, people near the poverty line and for housing production.
The RI Housing Board of Commissioners voted on 18 awards, contracts and approvals without any discussion or debate of the projects, noting that many had already been discussed in committee meetings.
Will all this housing funding make a difference?
After the hearing, Pryor said RI Housing needs to have its “coffers replenished” after awarding so much funding, which would be helped by the proposed $100 million housing bond.
The state is building about 1,000 units a year but needs to be building 2,000 to 3,000, just to keep up with the current demand, and build a lot more than that to start bringing down rental prices amid soaring demand, he said.
What received funding from the state?
The state awarded a bevy of different funds, loans and federal low income housing tax credits, also known as LIHTC.
Those low income housing tax credits have been the recent source of scrutiny and consternation as one state senator estimated $1 billon in the federal funding went unused, and was wasted, by the state.
According to the analysis by Sen. Sam Bell and intern Phoebe Dragseth, Rhode Island missed out on an average of $197.3 million a year between 2014 and 2020, only spending the money to maintain current housing stock.
Among the projects that received funds were:
- Rosebrook Commons, Middletown: $1 million in low income housing tax credits, $14.2 million in loans. A 64 income-restricted units in total 144-unit mixed-use development at 1747 West Main Road.
- Reynolds Farm Senior Housing, North Kingstown: $19.5 million in loans for 40 income- and age-restricted units, with an additional 40 units already built.
- Ade Bethune House, Portsmouth: $22.8 million in loans. 54-unit apartment complex of income- and age-restricted units and a senior center at 110 Bristol Ferry Road.
- City Center Apartments, East Providence: $1.6 million in low income housing tax credits, $1 million in Community Revitalization Program funds and $20.6 million in loans. 144 income-restricted units in two new buildings in East Providence and the the renovation of a third building at 330, 340 and 350 Taunton Avenue.
- Omni Newark Apartments, Providence: $1.3 million in low income housing tax credits, $5.6 million in loans. A proposed 52-unit 5-story building at 11 Newark St.
- Parcel 9, I-195 development by Pennrose, Providence: $1 million in low-income housing tax credits, $14.2 million in loans. Mixed-income, mixed-use project at the edge of Fox Point, with the second phase having 61 units.
- 321 Knight St., Providence: $1.3 million in low income housing tax credits, $6 million in loans. A 41-unit apartment building with parking at the base, all units income restricted.
- The Villages at Manville, Lincoln: $1.3 million in low income housing tax credits, $13 million in loans. A development of 72 units across two buildings.
- Park Holm Phase V, Newport: $18.3 million in loans. The final phase of the redevelopment of a pubic housing project in Newport with added units.
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
