Zoned Out: Zoning and Rhode Island’s housing shortage
Rhode Island has faced a housing shortage for decades, and despite efforts to address it, the problem is getting worse.
Today, thousands of people in Rhode Island are homeless, thousands more homeowners and renters are living in unsecure conditions, and home prices continue to skyrocket.
One of the biggest factors stifling what most agree is a need to build more housing is a complicated one: zoning.
“The zoning component is absolutely, really at the core of the housing crisis.”
Melina Lodge, executive director of Housing Network of Rhode Island
There are certain towns that have made it very, very clear that building at density was not what they wanted.
Colin Penney, executive director of South County Habitat for Humanity
Challenges to planning growth and planning development are real in Rhode Island and real in many parts of the country where zoning has become more of an exclusionary tool — rather than a good planning tool and an inclusionary tool to build housing of all income levels.
Brenda Clement, executive director of HousingWorks RI
Local zoning laws often restrict what kind of housing can be built where — or if it can be built at all. So what can be done? That’s what our new series is about.
Zoned Out: How local zoning hurts efforts to solve Rhode Island’s decades-long housing shortage
How large-lot zoning contributes to Rhode Island’s big housing shortfall
MORE FROM Zoned Out
A RI town manager on how the state should, and shouldn’t, spur more housing
Races to watch in Tuesday’s state primary, how local zoning rules stifle housing production, and more
As state lawmakers look to boost housing, zoning remains a pitched political battle in Rhode Island
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