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With remote work trending upward, South County real estate market is hotter than ever

With three plans addressing housing scheduled to be completed next year, two state agencies are opening the floor to the public to weigh in on the state's approach to housing, including the distribution of federal funds and housing investments, in the coming weeks.

The planning commission voted to recommend the town council amend the town’s affordable housing ordinance and modify the area median income (AMI) threshold in the North Kingstown town ordinance to align with the state’s AMI, which is 120 percent AMI. The town’s affordable housing designation is currently 80 percent AMI.

Narragansett Town Planner Michael J. DeLuca, speaking for eight communities in Washington County, urged a legislative commission Wednesday to change state law so that more low-cost housing could be counted as affordable housing.

The Rhode Island Housing Board of Commissioners approved financing and low-income-housing tax credits Thursday for three affordable developments, one each in Lincoln, North Kingstown and Providence.

Both climate solutions are identified as “green” — in fact, one literally is — but the Mother Nature-created one is being destroyed to make room for the manmade one. Some proponents of the latter say chunks of the former need to be sacrificed if society is to kick its dirty fossil-fuel habitat. Their well-intentioned argument goes something like this: we can’t say no to everything and we need renewable energy. While renewable energy is a must, it shouldn’t be given carte blanche to be sited anywhere and everywhere. If that’s the development practice Rhode Island embraces, environmental degradation will continue. Public health will suffer.

North Kingstown duplex illustrates the regulatory battles developers face; state’s housing crisis will rival those in Boston, New York and San Francisco, where costs have escalated to the point where only the wealthy can buy homes.

Several Rhode Island towns are facing negative impacts after being notified in late July that many of the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) applications for local programs and agencies will not receive the funding they typically see. Locally, six social services programs applied for a total of $136,702 to fund several projects in the area, and after the meeting in late July, East Greenwich, along with many other towns across the state, were notified that none of their applications from the Plan Year 2016 will receive funding.

Rhode Island's real estate market is showing no signs of slowing down, as parts of the state are seeing a big boost in home sales. Although many home prices are climbing with more buyers in the market, interest rates are still low, which makes a larger mortgage more affordable.