PBN: The state needs a stronger affordable-housing law, says R.I. Housing. Executive Director Barbara Fields isn't waiting for it to be changed.

By Mary MacDonald | April 27, 2018 6:30 am

R.I. Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp. is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year in a position of financial strength, says Executive Director Barbara Fields.

It has created programs to assist first-time homeowners, expanded its servicing of mortgages to include those generated by MaineHousing and emerged from the Great Recession with a surplus of financial assets.

But it is working against a backdrop of unaffordability. Half of all renters and 30 percent of homeowners in Rhode Island are housing-cost burdened, paying more than 30 percent of their take-home income on rent and utilities.

Fields has been executive director of the quasi-public agency since January 2015. She previously was the New England regional administrator for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the director of the Local Initiatives Support Corp. in Providence.

What's the best way for Rhode Island to increase access to affordable housing?

“Build, build, build,” she said.

How has the mission of R.I. Housing changed over the past 45 years? R.I. Housing was established by the General Assembly in 1973 as a public corporation of the state. We have an independent existence from the state, although they exercise a central control over our board. Our primary purpose was to encourage investment of private funds for the development of housing for low- and moderate-income persons, and to function as a source of capital for affordable-housing development. We were basically set up to be the state's housing bank at a time when many other states were doing this. Today, there are 53 housing finance agencies [nationally].

To view the complete article, visit Providence Business News

Courtesy of Providence Business News