Rhode Island Housing is deploying the funds as no-interest, long-term loans to complement other state and federal resources to finance the production and preservation of housing affordable to households earning less than 80% of the area median income.

The Rhode Island Office of Housing and Community Development is expanding the capacity of the shelter system to better respond to homelessness. This is being accomplished by adding temporary and permanent shelter beds through contracts with providers and targeting key constituencies, including families, couples, individuals experiencing chronic homelessness, and victims of domestic violence.

Rhode Island Housing is providing $17,500 in down payment assistance and closing cost assistance to help eligible households purchase a home.

Rhode Island Housing is financing the acquisition of properties to create a pipeline of sites suitable for affordable housing units. Affordable housing developers, public housing authorities, and municipalities can apply for funds to purchase land or properties for redevelopment as affordable housing or permanent supportive housing.

The project supplements existing funds to invest in spaces for housing units, commercial uses, and health, education, and employment training programming.

This project is supporting the development of apartments affordable to middle-income households earning up to 100% area median income. No-interest loans, which are being distributed through requests for proposals to for-profit and not-for-profit developers, are covering hard and soft development costs, including property acquisition, site remediation, construction, legal fees, architectural and consulting fees, etc.

The Office of Housing and Community Development is providing homelessness prevention, diversion, rapid rehousing, emergency shelter, and housing stabilization services to populations who have traditionally struggled accessing services, specifically individuals who identify as LGBTQ+ and victims of domestic violence. The goal is that these services will place individuals on the path toward securing permanent housing.

Typical unreimbursed predevelopment costs for multifamily projects can range from $100,000 to $750,000. These costs create delays and financial hardships, particularly for non-profit, mission-driven developers. These funds are offsetting these costs and expediting housing production.

Crossroads Rhode Island is launching the Summer Street project to replace The Tower – a 176-unit single-room occupancy building, with shared bathrooms and kitchens on each floor – with 176, one-bedroom units outfitted with private bathrooms and kitchens.

The program is providing zero-interest loans and grants to public housing authorities to help increase the supply of affordable housing and stabilize existing affordable housing. These funds are building technical capacity, securing needed predevelopment services, and beginning the process of redevelopment and/or repositioning of existing units.

The State is implementing various projects to provide warming stations and shelters.

The Department of Housing developed a program to assist residential properties in distressed areas meet their housing rehabilitation needs. The program is primarily serving households at or below 80% area median income in qualified census tracts. 

The Department of Housing is administering a program that provides grant funding to municipalities where new overnight shelter(s) have been opened or existing shelters have had their capacity expanded since May 1, 2023.

The funds are providing for the development of a statewide comprehensive housing plan to assess current and future housing needs, consider barriers to homeownership and affordability, and identify service needs for increased investments toward disproportionately impacted individuals and communities.  

During the pandemic, additional affordable housing and homelessness assistance initiatives have been assigned to the Office of Housing and Community Development. The funding is enabling the Office of Housing and Community Development to hire contract staff to expand and enhance capacity for affordable housing and homelessness assistance.

The project is supporting a housing development-focused municipal fellows program to assist cities and towns with planning, zoning, and/or a development project that increases the housing supply.

Complementing the ongoing development of regulations implementing a pilot program for the creation of additional Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) zones, these funds are providing technical assistance grants to municipalities to support zoning changes that enable additional housing development in proximity to transit.

The program is creating a fund that preserves affordable housing through foreclosure prevention or rehabilitation.