As interest in attending the University of Rhode Island continues to grow, the state’s flagship university said Wednesday it plans to build more student housing.
URI plans to lease state land on the Kingston campus to a private developer, which would then build and operate student housing on the land, the university said in a press release. URI said it hopes the deal with the Gilbane Development Company will eventually provide more than 1,100 additional student beds.
A report commissioned by the town of Narragansett and released earlier this year found that URI has not built enough housing for students, which has significantly altered the town’s housing market and contributed to a housing crunch for year-round residents. The university enrolled 17,511 total students in Fall 2021, according to the most recently available enrollment data submitted to the state Board of Education.
Ellen Reynolds, URI’s vice president for student affairs, says that many students choose to live off-campus and closer to the shore. But “if there’s a desire for students to live on campus,” Reynolds said, “we want to meet that need for them.”
The university and Gilbane are still studying the feasibility of the project, Reynolds said, but the aim is to deliver some new housing in the fall of 2027 and the remainder in the fall of 2028.
The Public’s Radio’s Luis Hernandez spoke with Reynolds about the university’s housing plans and what its neighbors can expect.
Interview Highlights
On the ‘town-gown’ relationship between URI and South Kingstown and Narragansett
Ellen Reynolds, URI vice president for student affairs: I will say that we have a terrific relationship with both… My division meets regularly with the chiefs of police to make sure that we’re aligned in what’s happening in the communities; that we’re working collectively on messaging that’s going out to students around safety, around being good neighbors; making sure that when students have issues in the community that they are shared with us so that we can address them through our community standards process that we have. Because we expect our students to not only follow the student handbook and be good citizens on campus, but also in the community.
On what community leaders say about the connection between URI and housing
Reynolds: I think they have indicated that there’s a concern about the affordability of housing for individuals and families …, and much of their concern is how much of the occupancy students take out of that…So I think there’s an ongoing dialogue regularly about what we have available on campus, how we can work to augment on campus, and then where we can work to make sure that the students who are living in the community are good community members and contributing positively to the communities they’re in.
On how the surrounding communities expect URI to help the housing crunch
Reynolds: Well, I think they’re expecting a partner, right? Somebody who’s willing to talk about it. Somebody who’s willing to advance, again, our housing portfolio where we can — where we financially can. And that’s something that we’ve always committed to and are doing.
Personally, I think it’s having dialogue around how we can do the best that we can to make sure that all community members have housing — safe, affordable housing. [And] again, that those students who choose to live in the community, because there are rentals available for them, are good citizens and contributing positively to the community that they’re living in.
On the university’s impact on South County
I think I hear regularly from community members how much our students contribute; how they are good neighbors; how they are helpful, they enjoy having them around. Occasionally, I’ll hear they’re better than an AirBnB where that changes every week and we have the same students and they’re great…So, I think the majority of our students are good neighbors there [and] the people in the community appreciate them being there.
The Public’s Radio’s Jeremy Bernfeld contributed to this story.
