ent price points by“ removing barriers to development, thinking about how to have sustained and appropriate growth. The community has identified housing and housing affordability as the utmost priority.”
The cause has attracted new allies. For example, Neighbors Welcome! Rhode Island, founded three years ago by a group of housing experts, is“ looking to fix barriers to housing development at the state level while also building a network of local residents, community groups and leaders who want to show up in support for housing development at the municipal level,” says Vice President Kris Brown.
AARP Rhode Island made accessory dweling unit legislation a“ top priority” in the last legislative session. The new law permits homeowners to build an ADU on their owner-occupied property as an expansion or detached structure by right, although local zoning laws still apply. The group has published an online guide explaining the requirements and procedures of creating an ADU, says State Director Catherine Taylor.
“ We have really old housing stock that is hard to maintain and has too many stairs. And we all want to stay in our communities, if not necessarily our homes,” she says.
Speaker of the House K. Joseph Shekarchi, who has made housing the centerpiece of his leadership, says,“ I’ m happy with the execution. We are seeing real progress. I’ m proud of those bills. They were not easy to accomplish. We certainly have a lot more work to do.”
Numbers from the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council, however, tell a different story. Its Housing Policy in Rhode Island report last October found a widening gap between the number of units needed to keep pace with household formation and replace lost units, and the state’ s goal of boosting the supply.
New housing permits in the first half of 2025 declined 6.7 percent over the same period in 2024, a sign that the state is losing momentum, says RIPEC Public Policy Analyst Jeffrey S. Hamill.
“ We’ ve passed dozens of laws; we’ ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars, and the results aren’ t showing up in the numbers,” he says.
Nonetheless, Hamill finds optimism in the new housing coalitions, reform of housing policy governance and the state’ s
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RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY I OCTOBER 2025 49