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3/18/2025
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Housing production bills backed by Neighbors Welcome! RI
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STATE HOUSE – House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi, Rep. June S. Speakman, Sen. Jacob E. Bissaillon, Sen. Tiara T. Mack and Rep. Sheri L. Cruz were joined by the leaders of Neighbors Welcome! RI today at a State House event highlighting legislation to accelerate housing production and presenting the results of a recent poll about the public’s support for policies to address the state’s housing crisis.
“I am so thankful to everyone involved with Neighbors Welcome, who say ‘yes in my back yard.’ The poll that Neighbors Welcome commissioned shows exactly why we need to have more communities saying yes to housing. The poll confirms how important the production of affordable housing is to Rhode Islanders,” said Speaker Shekarchi (D-Dist.23, Warwick), who has made housing his top legislative priority since he became Speaker in 2021.
“All Rhode Islanders deserve to live in quality homes in safe and thriving neighborhoods,” said Representative Speakman (D-Dist. 68, Warren, Bristol), who is chairwoman of the House Commission on Housing Affordability. “We must address the regulatory impediments to home construction and be creative and deliberate in our approach to development.”
Said Senator Bissaillon (D-Dist. 1, Providence), “Rhode Island faces a housing crisis that has been caused by decades of underinvestment and outmoded approaches to land use planning and development. The resulting shortage of homes and rental opportunities now threatens the health and economic well-being of communities throughout our state, so I am grateful that Neighbors Welcome RI has set forth a legislative agenda this year that prioritizes housing accessibility, developing underutilized land, and building more vibrant communities.”
Neighbors Welcome! RI’s poll, conducted among 602 Rhode Island registered voters between Feb. 21 and March 5 by YouGov, found that 78% of Rhode Islanders say there are too few homes in their community that average people can afford. More than half (57%) of respondents identified the cost of housing as the most important issue facing the state today — more than any other issue by a significant margin.
Neighbors Welcome! RI is grassroots network of neighbors advocating for reforms that help Rhode Islanders to build more homes, researches how a strong and sustainable housing market can improve residents’ quality of life, and supports residents advocating for more homes in their city or town.
“Rhode Island does not have enough homes to rent or buy that meet people’s budgets,” said Claudia Wack, Neighbors Welcome! president. “Allowing more homes of all shapes and sizes will provide relief, and these poll finding reflect that Rhode Islanders want their elected officials taking action.”
The group is backing six legislative proposals to create more homes:
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2025-H 5958/2025-S 0708 — Sponsored by Representative Speakman and Senator Bissaillon, this bill would create new, mixed-use overlays in commercial zones that cities and towns identify as appropriate, allowing unused commercial properties to be transformed into housing while ensuring they are not built near heavy industry or other environmental nuisances. Mixed-use areas have long existed on main streets, where apartments over shops are common, but modern zoning discourages their development in many places. Such neighborhoods are already served by water, sewer, and often have public transit, shopping and services available in walking distance.
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2025-H 5964/2025-S 0715 — Sponsored by Representative Cruz (D-Dist. 58, Pawtucket) and Senator Mack (D-Dist. 6, Providence), this legislation is aimed at re-legalizing homes the construction of single-family homes on small lots, which in many communities have been rendered unbuildable due to large-lot zoning. The bill would allow more flexibility in areas that are served by municipal water, sewer and public transit. Small lots with small homes are more affordable to working families and downsizing retirees. The legislation would also encourage the construction of homes in existing neighborhoods, not farmlands or forests.
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2025-H 5509 and 2025-H 5803 — Sponsored by Rep. Jason Knight (D-Dist. 67, Barrington, Warren) and Speaker Shekarchi, these bills expand use of e-permitting, speeding up new home construction and creating cost-savings that can be passed on to homeowners.
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2025-H 5963 and 2025-H 5799 — These bills sponsored by House Municipal Government and Housing Chairman Stephen M. Casey (D-Dist. 50, Woonsocket) and Representative Cruz would allow oversized lots to be subdivided if the resulting lots would be equal to those in the area.
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2025-H 5798/2025-S 0504 — Sponsored by Representative Speakman and Sen. Meghan E. Kallman (D-Dist. 15, Pawtucket, Providence), this bill encourages the development of attached single-family dwelling units, such as townhomes, which would create more opportunities for lower-cost housing.
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2025-H 5373/2025-S 0350 — Sponsored by Representative Speakman and Sen. Frank A. Ciccone III (D-Dist. 7, Providence, Johnston), would reclassify three- and four-family apartment houses as residential, making their construction more affordable. While older triple-deckers have ubiquitous in many Rhode Island neighborhoods, very few have been built in decades because they are now subject to the same commercial building codes as shopping malls and high-rises, rendering their construction onerously expensive.
Speaker Shekarchi’s electronic permitting legislation, Representative Speakman’s townhomes bill and Representative Cruz’s oversized lot bill are also part of the speaker’s 2025 housing package.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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