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95 Watch Hill Road • Westerly, RI 860.961. 4678 • www. omojewels. com
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REPORTER
on Taunton Avenue with 144 new apartments, 40 percent of them reserved for people experiencing or at high risk for homelessness. This fall, the city is working on a new ordinance requiring any future development of ten housing units or more to include 20 percent deed-restricted, affordable and fully accessible housing.
“ Our housing authority, which manages three high rises and some scattered affordable housing developments, has a waiting list of thousands of people,” says Mayor Roberto DaSilva.“ So I am always actively pursuing different avenues to create more housing stock so that the price point on rentals comes down.”
Likewise, Providence has been pulling every lever of government to crank up housing production. Over the last five years, the city has invested $ 55 million from the Providence Housing Trust Fund, and $ 41 million of its $ 166 million American Rescue Plan Act allocation, to create and preserve 1,600 new affordable housing units as well as homelessness intervention initiatives. One example is Tempo, a mixed-income family apartment building on Parcel 9 in the I-195 Redevelopment District’ s Fox Point neighborhood. Developed in partnership with affordable housing builder and property manager Pennrose, Tempo’ s sixty-six units opened in January, with a child care center, retail space and a public plaza on-site. Phase two, another mixed-income project known as Tandem, should be complete next year.
In 2019, the city launched its Anti-Displacement and Comprehensive Housing Strategy, a ten-year plan to develop housing options for residents of all income levels. It recently completed an update to its comprehensive plan and is expected to release a report on its housing accomplishments and goals this fall. Under Mayor Brett Smiley, Providence has streamlined the permitting and development process, relaxing the rules on row houses and multifamily dwellings, and up-zoning areas to increase density in growth corridors with good access to public transit, such as North Main Street.
Housing and Human Services Director Emily Freedman says the city has been working to reach a“ very robust level of production” of housing at differ-