TRANSCRIPT:
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Luis Hernandez: On Nov. 5, Rhode Island voters will have the opportunity to weigh in on five statewide ballot questions. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, we’ll be covering each of those questions in-depth. Today, we focus on question three, which asks voters to approve a $120 million bond to “increase the availability of housing, support community revitalization, and promote home ownership.” Here to talk more about it is Jay O’Grady, senior program officer for the Rhode Island branch of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, or LISC, a nonprofit that supports community development initiatives. Jay, I appreciate the time.
Jay O’Grady: My pleasure, Luis. Thanks for having me.
Hernandez: Could you tell us about the specifics of this bond measure? What types of housing projects would be funded if the voter supported this bond?
O’Grady: Sure. Well, this is, as you mentioned, a $120 million bond, the proceeds of which will be available for grants to qualifying entities, whether those be nonprofits, whether they be municipalities. Perhaps they could be individual homeowners with regard to a home ownership piece. It will essentially be used to boost the production of mostly affordable housing, capital-A affordable housing, I’ll say, which means housing, the construction of which is subsidized on the front end and then subject to affordability provisions, whether those be deed restrictions or some other method through which affordability is protected over a period of time on the back end.
Hernandez: LISC supports this measure. So I just wanted to get an answer as to why that is. Why is this needed?
O’Grady: Over the last few years, LISC has entered into a partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield of Rhode Island that builds on the work that they’ve done through their partnership with Brown [University] on the Rhode Island Life Index. And so if you’re not familiar with it, the Rhode Island Life Index is an intensive annual survey that’s conducted each year to assess the non-medical factors that are driving health outcomes for Rhode Island residents. What we’ve seen and what that survey has returned over the last five years, particularly in the post-pandemic years, is that housing insecurity has emerged as the leading social determinant of health. This makes sense if you think about it because a child cannot be secure in their education, their parents cannot be secure in their employment and their grandparents cannot be secure in their health unless each of these folks are first secure in their housing.
Hernandez: Do you think this bond measure does enough to address these housing issues that we’re facing right now?
O’Grady: The short answer is no. We are looking at a housing crisis that – I’ve been in Rhode Island for 20 years. This is as bad as I’ve seen it. I was on the Lincoln Town Council back in the early 2000s. We were seeing very similar issues at that time. People had kids that would otherwise have moved elsewhere that were still living at home and their parents couldn’t figure out how they could afford to stay in Lincoln, to stay in Rhode Island, etc. There’s no affordable options for elders to move into. They’re forced to age in place in homes with multiple unused bedrooms, that then block a younger family who’s in an apartment now and ready for a home from moving into that. Then that blocks folks from moving out of a shared apartment with roommates and that blocks folks from either leaving their parents’ home, or if they’re homeless from leaving a shelter. Once you have all these blocks, you start to see the crisis that we’re seeing. So no, this won’t do it, but this will be part of the solution.
Hernandez: Do you think that state and local leaders are doing enough on this issue?
O’Grady: I think state and local leaders are doing what they can. I think that one thing that’s not getting a lot of attention is the dramatic spike in insurance costs that we’re seeing as a result of, I would say, climate change. You’re seeing these thousand year storms every five years. You’re seeing insurers, State Farm, I believe it is, has now withdrawn from the California residential market because they can’t afford to insure any longer. That will factor into every element of the housing equation and it drives costs as a result.
Hernandez: You said that politicians are doing what they can, as much as they can right now. I’m wondering what else can be done if we’re just looking at increasing the housing stock that would at least give us options. What else can we do?
O’Grady: Well, we can be less restrictive in our zoning. A survey was done recently, I believe it was commissioned by HousingWorks RI, that indicates that 89% of land in Rhode Island is zoned for single-family only. This, Luis, prevails not only in single-family zoning, but it prevails in what you would consider to be a rural town, but also in places that you would not consider it to be rural. There are setback requirements. There are frontage requirements. There are lot size requirements that, although it’s allowed by right on paper, make it impossible to build in reality.
Hernandez: Has there been any opposition to question three?
O’Grady: I think question three is broadly supported. The need for more housing is accepted at a consensus level. I have no reason to believe it won’t be approved. Again, we’re at a crisis level that’s not been seen. So I don’t anticipate that there will be a big no vote on this.
Hernandez: So let’s say it does get approved. What happens next? How quickly does it kick in?
O’Grady: Yeah, so I believe that we are teed up and ready to go and that there will be RFPs that are put out that reflect the availability of bond proceeds as a grant resource. I expect that this will be ready for deployment in 2025. For example, there is a consolidated grant application that Rhode Island Housing has been putting out the last couple of years to match their grant cycle. I’m sure that proceeds from this will be backing some of those items on that application this year.
Hernandez: I’ve been speaking with Jay O’Grady, senior program officer for the Rhode Island branch of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. Jay, I appreciate the time. Thanks so much for the help.
O’Grady: Thank you. My pleasure.
You can find our breakdown of ballot question one here, on whether Rhode Island should hold a constitutional convention; and listen or read more about question two here, on whether to support capital improvements at URI and RIC. Go here to see how all five state referenda questions will appear on the ballot.
Election 2024 coverage by The Public’s Radio is sponsored in part by Ascent Audiology & Hearing, Providence Picture Frame and Rustigian Rugs. Find more of our elections coverage at thepublicsradio.org/2024elections, including voting guides for Rhode Island and Massachusetts.
