Affordable Housing

PROVIDENCE – Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island has announced $200,000 in grants to five organizations that are working to raise awareness of the need for, and improve access to, affordable housing.

The grants are to serve as a “bridge” to the 2020 BlueAngel Community Health Grant program, which has expanded to include funding for initiatives related to housing, Blue Cross says.

BlueAngel grants will be awarded early next year.

To view the complete article, featured in the Providence Business News, click here.
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Raimondo on projected shortfall: ‘We need some money’
December 14, 2019

PROVIDENCE – Raimondo said she is trying to come up with a permanent and steady revenue stream to address Rhode Island’s shortage of affordable housing and its homelessness problem.

“I don’t know where it will come from. I have a $200-million hole. But everyone who is an expert in this area tells me: If you are serious about housing, you need a steady funding stream …. So if we can find a way to do it, I’d like to do it.”

To view the complete article, featured in the Providence Journal, click here.
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Providence enforcing new regulations for short-term rentals
November 19, 2019

Providence is tackling the problem of short-term rentals.

New regulations are going into place beginning Nov. 30.

There will be no change for owner-occupied homes renting out rooms, but if an owner wants to rent the entire house, they must get a permit from the city. If a home is owned by someone who doesn’t live there, there will be no short-term rentals in residential districts.

“What we’re trying to prevent is investors buying property in certain residential zones and using them exclusively as income producing property,” Deputy Planning Commissioner Bob Azar told NBC 10 News.

To read the complete article, featured on Turn to 10, click here.

Homelessness

PROVIDENCE — For years as Rhode Island has sought to improve its schools, officials have jumped at “flavors of the moment” solutions that have proven insufficient, says Neil Steinberg, chairman of the Rhode Island Foundation.

Take, for example, mandates to put computers in every classroom.

“If the kids can’t read, or they’re watching Youtube videos, computers in the classroom didn’t necessarily help them,” he said.

What’s been missing in Rhode Island — and what Massachusetts adopted more than 25 years ago — is a long-term strategy for coordinated educational improvements and a strong-willed philosophy to stay the course, Steinberg said.

To read the full article, featured in Providence Journal, click here.
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Finding Hope: How Crossroads RI is helping the homeless get on the right path
November 27, 2019

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Families on the brink of homelessness are finding hope thanks to a local nonprofit marking a major milestone.

Crossroads Rhode Island started as a small group to help find housing and employment for women and girls in need. Now, more than a century later, it’s the state’s largest social service agency to help the homeless.

To view the full article, featured on WPRI 12, click here.
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School officials unclear on lack of homeless grant
November 18, 2019

PAWTUCKET – School officials say they have been unable to determine why the local school district was again left out of a late October grant award to support local homeless students. Housing advocates recently estimated that there are 68 homeless students in Pawtucket currently.

Interim Supt. Cheryl McWilliams said administrators reached out to the Rhode Island Department of Education after an inquiry from The Breeze about the lack of a grant this year, but were still unclear on the reasoning.

To view the full article, featured in the Valley Breeze, click here.