Providence City Council introduces rent stabilization ordinance

"...there are big, wealthy, private interests who will fight Providence’s rent stabilization ordinance tooth and nail. They are the ones keeping Providence families on the brink of destruction..."

Today in Providence’s Elmwood neighborhood, Providence City Council President Rachel Miller (Ward 13) and President Pro Tempore Juan Pichardo (Ward 9) announced the introduction of a highly anticipated rent stabilization ordinance, joined by a large crowd of community members.

Here’s the video:

“I am proud to announce and unveil the rent stabilization ordinance that President Pichardo and I, along with many other councilors, will be introducing on Thursday night,” said Council President Miller. “This rent stabilization ordinance is about Providence. It’s about keeping Providence affordable for the people who live here now. It’s about giving renters the ounce of breathing room they need while ensuring that property owners can achieve a fair rate of return.”

Council President Miller continued:

“It is past time. Year after year, Providence has topped housing lists for all the wrong reasons: the least affordable for renters in the country, the largest rent increase in the country, and the fastest-growing rent nationally for two years. Just last week, it was confirmed that Providence has the nation’s fastest-growing rents - again, even while nationally, median rents decreased.

“Rent in Providence has increased 40% since 2020. Have our incomes increased by 40% in the last five years? No, they have not. And if anyone’s counting, incomes have risen about 15%.

“What that means is that Providence is not affordable for the people who live here. It means that far too often, a rent increase, even with the 60-day notice mandated by state law, is an eviction notice by another name.

“It has to stop.

“Will rent stabilization alone fix the housing crisis? Absolutely not, and we know that. There are three pillars that have to work: we’ve got to build more, we’ve got to protect what we have, and we’ve got to stabilize rent. The city council has dedicated $55 million to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and we’ve updated the rules for that fund to ensure that public investment is actually creating deeply affordable housing, we offer advanced incentives for market development through tax stabilization agreements, and I’m working with my colleagues to ensure that we have an updated incentive for the very high cost of converting commercial to residential.

“Just those measures alone have brought hundreds of apartments to the city, both market-rate and deeply affordable. We’ve done that while advancing labor standards to ensure that the people who build the homes can actually afford to live in them. Council has funded the home loan program, which offers homeowners no-cost, forgivable loans for maintenance and repairs. We have unlocked city zoning to increase density at every level, remove single-family zones where they are outdated, support the development of accessory dwelling units, and triple down on density increases along transportation corridors. Providence is doing everything to move us forward and out of this housing crisis - except protect renters. It has to end now.”

The ordinance will create stability and predictability for Providence renters while supporting a healthy housing market. It allows owners of covered properties to raise rents up to 4% annually, includes exceptions for major tax increases and substantial capital improvements, provides for exemptions for a variety of properties, including new construction and small owner-occupied buildings, and establishes a Rent Board to enforce tenant protections, grant exemptions to property owners, and resolve disputes. The ordinance is a balanced, Providence-specific approach—one that stabilizes housing for Providence families while ensuring property owners achieve a fair rate of return.

“In the coming weeks, and really, it’s already been going for months, a narrative of fear will be unleashed on our city,” said Council President Miller. “We will hear a long list of these skies-are-falling worst-case scenarios, but the reality is this ordinance will make Providence stronger, not weaker. It will be a Providence for everyone, a stronger and better city that does good by property owners and renters alike.”

Council President Miller continued:

“The ordinance provides a straightforward process for landlords and property owners to get what they need to make improvements or upgrades. It accounts for large tax increases without any paperwork or need to appear before a Board. The ordinance focuses on a compassionate, human approach to addressing the diverse needs of property owners. There’s no annual reporting. If you own a reasonably well-maintained property, you will rarely, if ever, need to go before the newly created Rent Board for an exemption beyond the 4%.

“The ordinance exempts a number of categories, including new construction for 15 years. I’m looking forward to digging into this proposal in the coming months, including public hearings and conversations with renters and landlords to educate folks on what’s in the ordinance and hear what’s missing.

“I will always work with people who are coming to us in good faith to make our laws the best they can be, but there are big, wealthy, private interests who will fight Providence’s rent stabilization ordinance tooth and nail. Look out for them. They are the ones who are keeping Providence families on the brink of destruction. They are the ones profiting from a runaway market. They are the ones who sit idly by while our residents are left out in the cold.

“We know we need to build more. I’ve already shared some of the steps we’ve taken. The evidence from the real world is clear: rent stabilization does not decrease housing production. Long-term studies and recent cases show many other factors come into play. For example, our friends in Portland, Maine, enacted the strongest renter protection laws in the country (at the time) in 2020, which went into effect in 2021. More units were approved for development in 2021 than in 2020.

“Providence has the fourth hottest housing market in the country - no shade on Portland, our housing market is hotter. The city council is leading the way in moving the needle on the housing crisis across every other measure. It is time for Providence to protect renters and their families. It is time to stabilize rent. It is my great pleasure to introduce a friend of mine, neighborhood landlord Gabe Long, to share his perspective as a homeowner.”

“I’m a born-and-raised Rhode Islander, and I’ve lived in Providence for 10 years,” said Gabe Long, a Providence homeowner and landlord. “We desperately need this ordinance. I fall into the category of landlords this ordinance carves out because I live in the building where I have a rental unit and own another property. A few years ago, when the house next door to me went up for sale, I was worried. I was concerned that a Boston or New York real estate investment company would buy it to squeeze every possible dollar out of it. But I got lucky. A local couple bought it, and while they don’t live there, they come by to rake the leaves in the fall. They make sure that there’s salt on the sidewalk when it snows.”

Long continued:

“It’s their one investment property, and they care about it. Like me, they want long-term tenants because they want a stable income. They don’t want to jack up the rent every chance they get to give a theoretical presentation on improving return on investment to a room full of shareholders.

“They’re the kind of landlords we need in Providence, and this ordinance gives people like them a leg up over corporations that view our neighborhoods as assets to be exploited.

“Following up on what Rachel said, I want to address the idea currently being pushed by big-money corporate interests: that regulating the housing market will somehow make Providence less affordable. Look around. This is what the market created: one of the least affordable cities in America. We have to take action. We have to intervene, and this is the right way to do it. These city councilors have carefully crafted an ordinance that will not interfere with new construction and will protect small local landlords, who are the people we need to take care of our city because they care about it. This is the right action for this moment.

“So, as a landlord, I fully support it, and I want to say just one other thing because I can’t be handed a microphone and asked to talk about our city without saying this: Fuck ICE. They have no fucking place.”

Providence has the fastest rent growth in the country, even while the national median rent decreased. The median rent in Providence is 40% higher today than it was in 2020. Rising costs have forced working families out of the city and have directly contributed to rising rates of homelessness. Since March 2020, Providence has experienced more than 24,000 evictions. Between 2023 and 2024, Rhode Island experienced a 35% rise in homelessness, the second-highest increase in the country.

“I stand here today on Hamilton, between Laura and Mitchell Street, as a longtime resident, homeowner, father, and U.S. veteran who has called the city home for decades,” said Councilmember Pichardo. “My commitment to working families is nothing new. It is the work of my life. I’m pleased to join our president, Rachel Miller, and my colleagues in presenting this ordinance.”

Councilmember Pichardo continued:

“Here we are, once again, after 20 years. I say 20 years because, as an activist 20 years ago and then as a state senator, I fought to ensure that our residents had quality housing in our community.

“In Hamilton and other neighborhoods, we have homeowners and investment properties with landlords (whether they’re here or out of town), as you can see all around. I work with organizations such as the Elmwood Foundation and other advocates, including Acorn. Many advocates are standing with us here.

“20 years ago, when the 2005 housing crisis gripped Rhode Island, I stood in these same neighborhoods as a state senator and fought predatory lending practices. I was proud to lead that charge in passing the 10th national piece of legislation that protected homeowners from predatory mortgage lending. We stopped the big banks from gambling with our neighbors’ lives then, and today we’re here to stop corporate interests from price-gouging our renters.

“We are in a new kind of crisis. Providence is currently the least affordable rental market in the country. In neighborhoods like Elmwood, South Providence, and others, rent increases aren’t just numbers on a page. They are eviction notices by another name. When rent jumps 40% in five years while incomes stay flat, we aren’t just losing tenants. We are losing the soul of our city.

“Rent prices are too high. Just this month, according to apartments.com, the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Providence was $2,600. You need over $100,000 annually to afford that. This market will not regulate itself anytime soon. Since March 2020, Providence has experienced more than 2,400 evictions. Between 2023 and 2024, Rhode Island experienced a 35% rise in homelessness, the second-highest in the country. If we don’t act now, we will be leaving more people out in the cold.

“Providence families and children are in crisis. There are over 200 kids experiencing homelessness in Providence - navigating a full-blown rent emergency, can’t wait. We need an immediate stopgap to provide stability to families on the edge.

“That’s where rent stabilization comes in. The rent stabilization ordinance we are proposing is a balanced, commonsense tool. It’s not a radical shift. It’s a stabilizer. It provides a 4% annual cap so families can plan their budgets. It exempts new construction for 15 years to keep our builders building. Most importantly, it protects our local mom-and-pop owners, what I call the Providence Dreamers, with the one plus one exemption.

“As a former realtor and homeowner, I know that local homeownership is the key to generational wealth. That is why this ordinance includes a critical additional property exemption. If you are a resident who lives in the home and owns one additional property in your name, you are exempt. We are targeting the large-scale corporate entities, who, let’s be clear, treat our blocks like stock portfolios. Not the Ward 9 grandmother or those who rent out the second floor of their triple-decker. We are protecting the neighbors who treat their tenants like family.

“This ordinance gets to the heart of the issue: it regulates rent by ensuring that large corporate property owners do not raise rents by more than 4% annually, with some exemptions. The ordinance exempts owner-occupied homes and one additional property owned by the individual. Again, I’m talking about our neighbors, both homeowners and renters; the little guy, the ones who invest in our neighborhoods, want stable tenants, and are already doing the things the ordinance proposes.

“I’m proud of this proposal, and so are my colleagues behind me. It is a commonsense approach that stabilizes renters’ costs while maintaining our existing housing stock and supporting neighborhood landlords, all without slowing the development we desperately need.

“In conclusion, building our way out of this crisis will take time, but our families cannot wait. We need to increase supply, protect our housing stock, and stabilize rents now. I fought this battle before. I know that when we protect the people who call Providence home, we all win.”

Councilors point to the introduction of rent stabilization as the next step in a three-pronged housing strategy: increase the supply of housing at all income levels, protect the existing housing stock, and stabilize rent prices.

Since the start of the term in 2023, the City Council has invested $55 million in the City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund, overhauled the City’s zoning policy to increase density citywide, and incentivized private development through tax stabilizationagreements. These policies have brought hundreds of housing units to the City—in both deeply affordable, income-restricted developments and market-rate new construction. The Council has also increased annual budget allocations to the City’s home repair program, which provides forgivable, no-cost loans to residents to maintain their properties, and made a one-time $3 million allocation to the program with American Rescue Plan dollars.

“I appreciate being among such a distinguished group of speakers,” said Eric Hirsch, Professor of Sociology at Providence College. “This has been a long time coming, and I’ve been following it pretty closely. I appreciate what the Providence City Council is doing.”

Professor Hirsch continued:

“I want to go back to Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Before that, there was actually a middle class in this country, but Ronald Reagan came in and said, “What we ought to do is cut taxes on the wealthy because all that will trickle down to everyone else.” Of course, it never did. He busted the Air Traffic Controllers Union, and we saw a dramatic decline in union membership. That’s partly why the middle class has died on us. Reagan eliminated support for the new construction of public housing.

“The result of all this was an unbelievable increase in economic inequality, which has continued ever since. But what people don’t talk about is the impact that had on housing production. Since Reagan, the construction industry in Rhode Island hasn’t built any middle-class housing, certainly not low-income housing, without some kind of government subsidy. And poor people tend to live in older middle-class housing. Lower-income people occupy all the buildings around us; they were originally built for middle-class people who moved out, and lower-income people moved in. That filtering process doesn’t happen when you stop building middle-class housing, and you’re certainly not going to build low-income housing because that’s not profitable.

“That’s what has happened to the rental market. That’s why rents have gone up as high as they have. As Councilor Pichardo was saying, you have to talk about not average rents, but the average rent for a new apartment, for an apartment you’re going to move into. Those are at $2,600 a month. You need $100,000 annually to afford that. How many people in Providence make over $100,000? So what we have here is market failure.

“The private housing market doesn’t serve well over half of the households in Providence, so when the opponents of this are saying, “This is going to create changes in the markets, and that’ll be bad,” well, it’s already a complete and utter failure now. We need a way to prevent evictions. There were thousands and thousands of evictions, over 6,300, last year, almost all of them for non-payment of rent.

“We absolutely need regulation, and I’d like to see many of these developers and landlords (thank you for the one we have here) start supporting it. Even with the exemptions in this ordinance (I might not have put all those in, but), given those exemptions, they won’t have any problem doing what they need to do to maintain their building, go to rehab, or do new construction. So why aren’t they supporting this? They just want the highest possible profits and the highest possible rents, and they couldn’t care less if people get evicted and wind up homeless.

“We actually had a doubling of homelessness between 2019 and today. And we’ve had hundreds of people outside in weather like this for the first time, to the point where tonight we are opening three churches to make sure people don’t freeze to death. Having rents this high is life-threatening. That’s why people are homeless. Our shelters are completely bottled up. People can’t leave the shelter because they can’t afford an apartment.

“If you get a Section eight or housing choice voucher, no landlord will take it because they’d rather be in this high-profit private market. This ordinance is the minimum that we need. What we need going forward is more public intervention, as the city council is doing. The state needs to do the same thing. Hopefully, when we get rid of the current president, the federal government will do that, too. Let’s make this happen.”

Last year, the Council’s Housing Crisis Task Force concluded a two-year investigation into the issues residents—including those at risk of homelessness—face in finding and keeping stable housing with the release of an extensive report, which included rent stabilization among its recommendations.

The ordinance will be formally introduced at the City Council’s regular meeting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, January 22nd. It will be referred to the committee, where there will be a robust public process, including considerable opportunities for public input.

Notable features of the Providence Rent Stabilization Ordinance include:

• Caps annual rent increases at 4%. A landlord cannot raise the rent by more than 4% in any 12 months, absent a special circumstance.

• Sets the base rent to the rent charged 180 days before the ordinance takes effect, preventing last-minute price spikes before the law goes into effect.

• Establishes a Rent Board to administer and enforce the rules. This five-member board and its staff will review landlord petitions for larger increases, hear tenant complaints, and ensure the ordinance is followed fairly.

• Tenants can report suspected violations and are protected from any landlord retaliation for exercising their rights. The Rent Board can roll back unlawful rent hikes, order landlords to refund overcharged rent, and the City can levy fines for serious violations.

• Exemptions for small, owner-occupied buildings with one to three units, such as duplexes and triple-deckers, where the owner lives on-site. A narrow exemption for one additional small property owned by the same individual (not a corporation).

• A 15-year exemption for new construction, including currently existing buildings, to ensure that rent stabilization does not interfere with housing production or financing.

• Built-in flexibility for landlords to address major expenses. Owners can seek approval for a higher rent increase if they make significant capital improvements or have other special circumstances that require a larger increase to ensure they can earn a fair return.

• Automatic flexibility for large property tax increases, allowing landlords to pass on a fair portion of unusually high tax hikes above a 5% threshold using a clear formula.

• Rent can be increased by 4% only once when a tenant moves out and a new tenant moves in, maintaining stability through vacancies.

• Complaint-based enforcement, allowing tenants to report violations without creating a large new bureaucracy or annual reporting burden on property owners.

• Utility charges must reflect actual costs, ensuring landlords can only pass through the real cost of utilities and not mark them up.

• Properties must be up to code to qualify for annual rent increases, meaning landlords must maintain safe, habitable buildings to apply the standard 4% increase.

Shana Crandell and Lluvia Troche Rosa

“Like many of you, my family and I have been affected by rising rents here in Providence,” said Providence resident Lluvia Troche Rosa. “Around the city, I hear the same story every day: people who have lived here for years now find themselves at risk of having to leave because they can’t afford a place. Within my own family, many have had to move to other states because they can’t keep paying such high costs.”

Troche Rosa continued:

“My home is lucky to have two sources of income. Even then, every month we wonder if we will be able to afford rent next month, and there’s not much difference, were we to move, given that prices are the same everywhere. I know we’ve all probably tried to find them and seen the inflated prices, where even a room in a shared apartment can cost $1,000 or more.

“The worst part is that no matter how much they raise rent prices, there’s never enough for some landlords. My dad’s family rented the same place for over 30 years. First, it was rented by my great-aunts, then by my dad, until the owner sold the property. Two years later, the new landlords told my dad he had to leave because they were going to rent the apartment to someone else. They gave my dad only two weeks to move, and, as you can imagine, that wasn’t enough time to find a new apartment. He was lucky enough to afford temporary housing through Airbnb, but even then, he was without a permanent home and had little chance to save up for the cost of a new apartment and the sudden move. For almost four months, he was like this, moving from dwelling to dwelling every few weeks, until he finally found a new apartment.

“My dad was fortunate to have a job that paid him relatively well, and he was able to afford those temporary living spaces, but for most of us, that’s not the case. Just one rent change we can’t afford, just one sale to those who care more about profit than people, just one thing going wrong, and we can find ourselves without a place to live. We have to fight against abusive rent policies, and this starts by supporting ordinances like rent stabilization, because none of us should have to fear losing our homes.”

Many organizations were at the press conference in support, including Sista Fire, Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE), Reclaim RI, Rhode Island Council of Churches, SEIU 1199, Providence Teachers Union (PTU), Onlyville Neighborhood Association (ONA), and PrYSM.

“I’m a tenant in Ward 11 Southside, and I work with Sista Fire,” said Justice Gaines. “At Sista Fire, we organize women and non-binary people of color in Rhode Island for our political, social, and economic transformation to advance the vision of care, dignity, and stability for all of our families and neighbors.”

Gaines continued:

“Today, we are here to support rent stabilization in Providence, a crucial step towards achieving that vision. When I moved into my first apartment in Providence, my roommates and I spent the first 24 hours cleaning because the previous tenants had left it absolutely filthy. The couch that came with this furnished apartment was soiled by their cat, which was still in the home, by the way, because the landlord had done nothing to ensure that the space was livable or clean in between tenants. We didn’t get our security deposits back at the end of the lease.

“In a different apartment, I was living with friends, one of whom was the landlord. As the conflict in the house grew and the relationship soured, so did the apartment’s maintenance. Two of us decided to move out, but it took four months to find a new place because everything was so expensive. And when we found our spot, we were paying over $500 more each month for less space than we had had. Across our city, residents are paying higher rents without improvements in quality or wage increases.

“Sista Fire members have shared dozens of stories, many far more appalling than this. Stories of rent increasing year to year while appliances and windows remain broken; landlords looking for rent every month, but unresponsive to concerns about pest or mold in the house; new parents out of work to care for their newborns, facing rent spikes that threaten their family’s entire home; young people choosing between eating dinner this week or having enough money to pay rent on the 1st; and folks who’ve been pushed out to Cranston, Pawtucket, or Woonsocket, who can’t raise their families in the city that raised them because the prices got too high. Sista Fire supports rent stabilization because our housing system should be rooted in care and dignity for all, not profit for the few.

“By limiting rent increases to a maximum of 4% per year, rent stabilization provides tenants with predictability and the ability to plan for the future, budget without exorbitant, unexpected increases in their living costs. This rent stabilization ordinance gives tenants protections to name concerns and problems to our landlords without fear that they will shut off services or threaten eviction. Rent stabilization prevents corporate developers and property managers from seeing tenants as dollar signs on a spreadsheet. Tenants are not numbers. We are human. Housing is a human right, not a commodity.

“Care belongs at the center of public life. Our housing system must start with care. A caring city does not price people out of their homes. A caring city does not force people to choose between food and shelter. A caring city does not punish people for making sure their homes are safe places to live. A caring city does not make you earn a roof just to make someone else a dollar.

“Rent stabilization is one step towards a truly caring city where we can all afford to live, stay with our families, and build homes as places of care, dignity, and rent stability.

“Whose streets? Our streets. Whose homes? Our homes. Whose streets? Our streets. Whose home? Our home. Let’s pass rent stabilization now.”

“Friends, power concedes no ground without a challenge,” said Reverend Jeremy Langel, executive minister at the Rhode Island Council of Churches. “Interestingly, we’re gathered here today, the day after we celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. I have observed, over many years of recognizing that day, how sanitized his vision has become.”

Reverend Langill continued:

“Isn’t it interesting that his last sermon was about economic justice? His last sermon was about poverty. Dr. King paid a price for that sermon. Dr. King paid a price for that vision, and to some degree, we dropped the ball. Eric already spokeabout Ronald Reagan...

“Friends, it’s time for us not only to get this passed, but to recognize that we are going to be in this for a long time, because what we are doing is dismantling a system of oppression, and that’s going to take our collective effort and our collective work.

“I’m going to offer us a blessing: As we do this work ahead, may the divine bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships. May the divine bless you with anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people so that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace. May God bless you with tears to shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and to turn their pain to joy. And may God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you can and must make a difference in the world so that you can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice, kindness, and compassion to all. Amen.”

To answer commonly asked questions, the councilors sponsoring the ordinance have put together an FAQ, which will be updated on the City Council’s website at council.providenceri.gov/housinghub/rentstabilizationfaq/.