Fact Books

The Housing Fact Book is an annual publication presented by HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University that outlines housing affordability data for Rhode Island's 39 municipalities.

The goal of this annual publication is to provide the consumer with easy-to-understand information, as well as a tool to inform local and state decision-makers on the importance of an integrated approach to improving housing affordability in Rhode Island.

Since 2020, HousingWorks RI’s Housing Fact Books have focused on the ways Rhode Island’s housing crisis was highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and on documenting these circumstances and responses. Three years in, we are beginning to see how successful the temporary measures instituted by organizations and governments have been at keeping people housed and employed; how the state has deployed a significant portion of the federal funding received through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA), and how Rhode Island’s legislature has allocated state dollars and codified responsibilities with an eye to the future.

There is good news to share, but challenges remain. While Rhode Island has increased the $250M it originally budgeted from federal resources to more than $321M across FYs 2022-2024, staggering increases in home prices compromise housing choices for all Rhode Islanders and imperil basic housing stability for many others in the Ocean State. In 2023, aware of the deep and continuing housing crisis, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed a suite of legislation designed to foster housing development and protect tenants. Many of these new laws are related to planning and zoning, including proactive approaches to adaptive reuse of public buildings and development along transit corridors. Important protections were also passed regarding lead mitigation, tenant protections for evictions, and foreclosure mediation. In this year’s Housing Fact Book, these legislative steps are linked to the analysis we feature.

As in recent years, our 2023 Housing Fact Book (.PDF) examines the housing landscape through the lens of the Social Determinants of Health and continues to integrate our important work as the Rhode Island team for the National Zoning Atlas. Together these modes of analyses offer a holistic view of housing as an indicator of both individual well-being and emergent community challenges.