HousingWorks RI has released a new Issue Brief entitled Historic Preservation and Affordable Housing: A smart investment in Rhode Island's economy.

Having a strong historic preservation tax credit program that incorporates long-term affordable housing is a strategic investment for Rhode Island’s economy. The Issue Brief examines how other New England states with an abundant stock of historic properties are maximizing their own historic preservation tax credits to build strong, diversified economies with a wide range of housing options for their workforce.

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The MacArthur Foundation today released the results of their national How Housing Matters Survey conducted by Hart Research Associates. 1,433 adults were surveyed via telephone and asked about their perceptions regarding the current housing market and attitudes about renting vs. homeownership.

Key findings include:

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HousingWorks RI today released its analysis of foreclosures in Rhode Island for Q4 2012. The report looks at the number of foreclosures in each of Rhode Island’s 39 cities and towns and offers regional comparisons.

Quick Glance Findings:

• Q4 2012 saw an 11.2 percent drop in the number of residential foreclosure deeds filed in Rhode Island compared to Q4 2011, and a 36 percent decline from Q4 2009, when data was first readily available.

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For many, owning a home is part of living the American Dream but new data reveals that this aspiration is out of reach for the average Latino household living in Rhode Island. The Latino Policy Institute (LPI) at Roger Williams University and HousingWorks RI released an infographic today that shows 71 percent of Latino households in the state are renters, compared to 39 percent of the state’s overall renter households.

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An interesting article by Richard Florida on TheAtlanticCities.com points to how high housing costs are affecting blue-collar workers in knowledge-based metros. Florida is Co-Founder and Editor at Large at The Atlantic Cities, and

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The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Policy Development and Research, recently published a report on the housing market in Rhode Island as of May 2012.

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The January 24, 2013 issue of the MacArthur Foundation's Housing Matters SmartBrief features a report conducted by AARP indicating that middle-income households age 50 or older spent a larger percentage of their incomes on mortgages in 2009 than they did a decade earlier.

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As Rhode Island families get ready for the holiday season many families headed by women are feeling the pinch. The gendered housing cost burden is outlined in a new infographic jointly released by Women’s Fund of Rhode Island and HousingWorks RI, looking specifically at women and housing in Rhode Island.

”The majority of families headed by women in Rhode Island are renters and one in three of those families is spending 50 percent or more of their income on housing expenses,” said Jessica Cigna, the research and policy associate at HousingWorks RI. “It’s not surprising to see that 44 percent of those families are also living in poverty.”

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The 2012 Housing Fact Book released today by HousingWorks RI, shows a persistent housing cost burden for Rhode Island renters. This annual publication provides data analysis on housing affordability and actual foreclosure rates, as well as a look at the housing challenges facing Rhode Islanders.

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The Center for Housing Policy today released revised and updated figures from its online interactive database, Paycheck to Paycheck, which shows that, even in more moderately-priced communities, people who work a full-time job pay an excessive portion of their income for housing.

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