• Rhode Island House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi has introduced a new package of housing legislation.
• Highlights include allowing property owners to divide single-family lots and legalizing single-staircase, four-story apartment buildings.
• The package also seeks to expand the Homeless Bill of Rights and streamline the creation of emergency shelters.

House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi is once again taking aim at the regulations he says are stifling new homebuilding.

The Warwick Democrat unveiled his sixth annual suite of housing legislation on Thursday, Feb. 26, a few weeks after announcing he would not be running for governor this year.

“We are still trying to play catch-up for all the years that Rhode Island was dead last in the country for new housing starts,” Shekarchi said. “While Rhode Island remains a relatively affordable option for people moving here from other states, our own residents are too often priced out of the neighborhoods they grew up in.”

The legislative text of the nine-bill housing package, and with it the specifics of how it would work, were not available for Thursday’s news conference.

But highlights of the package, according to summaries, include:

• Infill housing. Allow property owners to divide lots in single-family zoning districts, creating multiple dwellings instead of one, provided they have water and sewer service.
• Parking maximums. Put new limits on how much off-street parking communities require for new apartment buildings.
• Homeless Bill of Rights. Expand the state’s Homeless Bill of Rights to require 15-day notice to the occupants of encampments before local authorities clear them.
• Emergency shelters. Let communities build temporary shelters, such as the ECHO Village Pallet shelter in Providence, during a state of emergency.
• Stairs. Legalize the construction of four-story apartment buildings with a single staircase.
• Affordable housing taxes. Overhaul the tax system for income-restricted housing covered by the state’s “8 Law.”