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Rhode Island
The solution to Rhode Island’s housing crisis: Welcome more neighbors – The Boston Globe
It’s the heart of winter in Rhode Island, and this year’s legislative session is under way, temperatures are some of the lowest of the year, and more than 4,000 Rhode Islanders will be seeking shelter across the state, in desperate need of a place to live. Rhode Island has ranked last in the country in recent years when it comes to housing construction per capita. That has resulted in a record increase in rents in Providence, outpacing every other city nationwide, as well as population loss in picturesque towns like Narragansett, and a nearly 400 percent increase in unsheltered Rhode Islanders.
Years in the making, many factors have led to this sobering reality, from the collapse of the housing market in 2007 to an influx of newcomers from Metro Boston, but none have had a stronger impact than zoning ordinances.
Laws enacted at the local level, varying from town to town, have all but barred the construction of homes in most of Rhode Island’s 39 communities without costly variances, often at the mercy of abutters. The result is a dearth of homes being built, save for huge, expensive condominium developments and McMansion-style sprawl in our remaining farmland, forests, and along flood-prone waterways.
Layers of restrictions in Rhode Island’s building code exert further pressure, inhibiting construction of new housing. Rhode Island has some of the oldest housing stock in the country, which is prone to loss of housing units. The state’s building code — with requirements on the placement of staircases and prohibitively expensive sprinkler systems — effectively prevents construction of new condos and apartments in the communities that need them most.
As state legislators convene in Providence to address the housing crisis, notice the “missing middle” in our own backyards. Gaining popularity, the “accessory dwelling unit” — “granny flats” in garages and basements, backyard cottages and tiny houses — provided much needed housing choices in every community, until they were outlawed in many places in the middle of last century. Our current housing crunch and the lack of available land has brought common-sense legalization of ADUs to the forefront, and ADUs can add homes to a neighborhood without changing its character.
The housing crisis is affecting everyone, from new college grads to aging empty nesters to employers looking to hire. Making it possible to build accessory dwelling units by-right makes sense for the smallest state. Land is a precious commodity, and Rhode Island has just 1,200 square miles of it. Allowing homeowners to build for their inlaws and friends will enable Rhode Islanders to age in place, in our communities, and could relieve pressure on single-family homes. Furthermore, with the increased demand for living space pushing further out from the Providence area and threatening forests, wetlands and farms, ADUs are becoming a valuable tool in preserving what little open space remains.
Rhode Islanders are proudly stubborn and independent minded; a tradition predating the United States that has secured Little Rhody’s existence over the centuries. Today’s challenges can be met with small common-sense reforms, and the help of a friendly neighbor.
Greg Miller is a director and treasurer at Neighbors Welcome! Rhode Island, a grassroots network working to make housing options accessible to residents of every city and town, at every stage of life.
WARWICK, R.I. (WPRI) — Two people are dead and another person seriously hurt after a crash involving two vehicles on the highway in Warwick Saturday.
Rhode Island State Police said the crash happened around 1:34 p.m. on the ramp from Route 113 West to I-95 South.
According to police, a Hyundai SUV that was driving in the middle lane of the highway started to drift to the right, crossed the first lane, and then crossed onto the on-ramp lane. The car struck the guardrail twice before driving through the grass median.
The Hyundai then struck the driver’s side of a Mercedes SUV that was on the ramp, causing the Mercedes to roll over and come to a rest. The impact sent the Hyundai over the guardrail and down an embankment.
The driver of the Hyundai, a 73-year-old man, and his passenger, a 69-year-old woman, were both pronounced dead at the hospital.
A woman who was in the Mercedes was rushed to Rhode Island Hospital in critical condition.
State police said all lanes of traffic were reopened by 4:30 p.m.
The investigation remains ongoing.
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A federal judge on Friday tossed the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) lawsuit aiming to force Rhode Island to hand over its voter information as part of the Trump administration’s push to acquire voter data from several states.
Rhode Island U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy wrote that federal law does not allow the DOJ “to conduct the kind of fishing expedition it seeks here,” siding with Rhode Island election officials. She added that the DOJ did not provide evidence to suggest that Rhode Island violated election law.
McElroy, a Trump appointee, wrote that she sided with the similar decision in Oregon. That decision ruled that the DOJ was not entitled to unredacted voter registration lists.
“Absent from the demand are any factual allegations suggesting that Rhode Island may be violating the list maintenance requirements,” she said in her ruling.
Rhode Island Secretary of State Gregg Amore (D) praised McElroy’s decision. He said in a statement that the Trump administration “seems to have no problem taking actions that are clear Constitutional overreaches, regularly meddling in responsibilities that are the rights of the states.”
“Today’s decision affirms our position: the United States Department of Justice has no legal right to – or need for – the personally-identifiable information in our voter file,” he said. “Voter list maintenance is a responsibility entrusted to the states, and I remain confident in the steps we take here in Rhode Island to keep our list as accurate as possible.”
The Hill reached out to the DOJ for comment.
The DOJ called for the voter lists as it investigated Rhode Island’s compliance with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, which allowed Americans to register to vote when they apply for a driver’s license.
The DOJ sued at least 30 states, as well as Washington, D.C., in December demanding their respective voter data. This data includes birth dates, names and partial Social Security numbers.
At least 12 states have given or said they will give the DOJ their voter registration lists, according to a tracker operated by the Brennan Center for Justice.
The department stated after it lost a similar suit against Massachusetts earlier this month that it had “sweeping powers” to access the voter data and that, if states fail to comply, courts have a “limited, albeit vital, role” in directing election officers on behalf of the administration to produce the records. The DOJ cited the Civil Rights Act as being intended to unearth alleged election law violations.
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Rhode Island
Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than $500K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(749x0:751x2)/Scott-Naso-022526-1-079e2e33c43a473590695ebdb06147b3.jpg?ssl=1 "Single Dad Says Grandparents’ Rights Trial Has Cost Him More Than 0K, but He'll Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Keep Daughter Safe")
As the two-year anniversary of his wife’s death approaches, widowed single father Scott Naso is sounding an alarm to fellow parents across the country — and especially in Rhode Island, where he lives with his now 4-year-old daughter, Laila.
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