Rhode Island has long faced a housing crisis, as prices have skyrocketed amidst low inventory, sluggish construction, and high demand, particularly in the years since the COVID pandemic upended routines and rattled the real estate market.
Results of a new poll released Monday by the University of Rhode Island show the vast majority of Rhode Islanders, or 93 percent, see the cost of housing in the state as a problem. About a quarter of the 500 residents surveyed reported falling behind on rent or mortgage payments in the last three years.
“The numbers speak for themselves,” the Providence City Council said in a press release. “In January of this year, a Redfin report named Providence the single least affordable city for renters, who make up more than 60 percent of city residents. In 2024 and 2025, Providence ranked first and second for highest average rent increase in the nation, according to rent.com.
“Along with a 35 percent increase in homelessness between 2023 and 2024, more than 24,000 evictions since 2020, and Rhode Island’s position as 50th for new housing permits, the need for urgent and decisive action could not be clearer,” the report said.
Here are the topics covered by the report and some of its key takeaways:
There needs to be a “deliberate, citywide strategy to increase the supply of housing,” which means “accelerating the pace of construction, expanding the types of homes that can be built, and ensuring that affordability is built in and not added as an afterthought,” according to the report.
Specifically, the report recommends conducting a neighborhood-level affordable housing report to identify where affordable housing currently exists and “where it is most needed.” The city should also adopt policies that speed up permitting for affordable housing projects, reduce permitting fees for developers, create “pre-approved architectural templates to streamline construction approvals,” and provide infrastructure to lower development costs, the report states, among other policy changes.
The task force also recommended creating a public land bank to secure land for affordable housing, or a “city-managed entity that can acquire, hold, and develop land for affordable housing,” and suggested Providence follow other cities across the country by creating “public entities to build and manage housing that remains affordable over the long term.”
The report also spells out strategies for expanding affordability through inclusionary zoning and for reforming tax sales policies to prevent displacement.
According to the report, Providence’s rental market has grown “increasingly volatile,” as “skyrocketing rents, corporate speculation, and a lack of adequate tenant protections have begun to reshape entire neighborhoods.”
To combat this, the task force recommends expanding the city’s tax on unoccupied and not properly maintained properties to target “habitable but unoccupied” units that are sometimes intentionally left unoccupied by investors.
The report also suggests passing an ordinance to ban the use of algorithmic software to set rental prices, as investors are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence “to maximize profits rather than considering what tenants can afford.” The use of the software often leads to “coordinated rent hikes across entire neighborhoods, a practice that mirrors price-fixing,” the report states.
Officials also recommended policies aimed at addressing the impact student housing has on the city’s rental market, and at creating a rental registry to track rental properties in Providence.
Additionally, the report recommends the City Council “explore rent stabilization as part of a robust housing affordability plan,” and outlines components that would make for a “well-designed policy,” such as through capping annual rent increases at either a set percentage or the yearly change in the consumer price index, whichever is lower.
In the report, the task force outlines a few ideas for protecting tenants at risk of displacement.
Among them is developing a “Right of First Refusal” policy that would allow tenants, local organizations, or public housing entities an opportunity to try to buy, own, and manage a property when it is going up for sale.
The task force also recommends the City Council push state lawmakers for “Right to Counsel” legislation to ensure tenants have access to legal representation in eviction proceedings. The group also said the City Council should work toward creating an “Emergency Eviction Prevention Fund to provide short-term financial assistance for tenants at risk of eviction.”
The report also touches on homelessness in Providence.
The task force recommends expanding emergency shelter capacity by deploying units modeled after the ECHO Village pallet shelters opened earlier this year; identifying city-owned properties to use as emergency shelters; and “ensuring a low-barrier approach that does not exclude individuals based on sobriety, mental health status, or past criminal history.”
The City Council should also prioritize city funding for permanent supportive housing and work to codify “best practices” for encampment management, among other steps, according to the report.
“Encampment clearings should follow a clear, transparent process that prioritizes housing placement rather than displacement,” the report states. “The city should formalize procedures for when and how encampments can be vacated, ensuring that outreach providers, service agencies, and affected individuals receive advanced notice and have access to alternative shelter options before enforcement actions take place. The goal is not to normalize displacement, but to prevent it.”
The report will go to the full City Council at Thursday’s meeting.