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Enews Archives

January 4, 2006

Housing costs contributing to population loss in Rhode Island
According to recently released U.S. Census data, Rhode Island is one of just three states losing population. Experts cite high housing costs as a major cause of the decline.

Between July 2004 and July 2005, Rhode Island’s population decreased 0.3%, or 3,723 residents. “A lot of it has to do with the fact that small towns in New England don’t like to have affordable housing, so in an effort to keep down taxes, they prefer age-restricted housing or no housing at all,” explained Peter Francese of the New England Economic Partnership.

Experts also pointed out the economic connection. Jim Brett of the New England Council, a regional business group, noted, “companies won’t be relocating in this region if they can’t find the skilled workers to take those jobs.”

To read the Providence Journal article about the data, click here.*

Two HousingWorks RI members talk housing
Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation executive director Joseph Garlick and Northern Rhode Island Chamber of Commerce president and CEO John Gregory co-authored a December 23 letter to the editor of the Valley Breeze newspaper.

Garlick and Gregory declared that the disparity between housing costs and incomes is causing young people to leave the region and “shaking our economy and changing our communities.” They complimented the Valley Breeze on its coverage of local affordable housing and community revitalization efforts, such as Cumberland’s Main Street, Lincoln’s Lonsdale Village and Woonsocket’s Heritage Place.

To read the letter, click here.*

WNDC’s holistic approach to housing highlighted
Speaking of the Woonsocket Neighborhood Development Corporation (WNDC), the agency was featured in the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston’s fall issue of Communities & Banking.

Author Caroline Ellis declares that four rental units designed by WNDC for in-home childcare providers “exemplify the power of holistic thinking in rescuing a city from decline.” The article also credits the Rhode Island office of the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) and Rhode Island Housing for their support of the project.

To read the full article, click here.*

Mayors report increased demand for emergency shelter and affordable housing
The U.S. Conference of Mayors has released its 2005 Hunger and Homelessness Survey of 24 major cities, including Providence.

According to the report, requests for emergency shelter have increased by an average of 6 percent in the past year, with an estimated 32 percent of requests going unmet. The cities pointed to the lack of affordable housing as the major cause of homelessness, and 86 percent of the cities surveyed reported an increase in requests for assisted housing.

Providence reported a 10 percent increase in requests for emergency shelter. The city estimated that 20 percent of requests went unmet, and that people who are unable to access shelter “live in cars, with other families or in the streets.” Providence identified lack of affordable housing, low-paying jobs and unemployment as the top three causes of homelessness and noted that the Providence Housing Authority has a waiting list of over 2,000 households.

To read the full report, click here.*

*All articles have been saved as Adobe PDF documents. To download the latest version of Adobe Reader, click here.