Providence's Housing Crisis Task Force issues 2025 Report

The report includes rent stabilization, inclusionary zoning, taxing vacant properties, creating a municipal public developer for social housing, and expanding the city’s emergency shelter capacity.

From a press release:

The Providence City Council Housing Crisis Task Force (HCTF) approved a report recommending legislative action to address the city’s housing crisis. The Task Force, chaired by Councilwoman Mary Kay Harris (Ward 11), presents a legislative blueprint for urgently needed housing reforms and recommends a number of specific policy goals to the city council, including rent stabilization, inclusionary zoning, taxing vacant properties, creating a municipal public developer for social housing, and expanding the city’s emergency shelter capacity.

The HCTF 2025 Report results from more than two years of work, which began in March 2023.

“This report lays out a bold vision for housing in our city, which is exactly what this moment demands,” said Chairwoman Mary Kay Harris. “I could not be prouder of my colleagues on the Task Force and our incredible staff who have spent countless hours listening to residents, researching solutions, and determining the best ways for this council to address the overlapping crises of homelessness and housing affordability that we all see and feel each day. The time to act is right now.”

The numbers, note the Task Force, speak for themselves:

• In January of this year, a Redfin report named Providence the least affordable city for renters, who comprise more than 60% of city residents.

• According to Rent.com, Providence ranked first and second in the nation for the highest average rent increase in 2024 and 2025.

• With a 35% increase in homelessness between 2023 and 2024, more than 24,000 evictions since 2020, and Rhode Island’s position as 50^th for new housing permits, the need for urgent and decisive action could not be clearer.

The specific recommendations made in the report fall into four major categories, reflecting the overlapping problem areas confronting the city:

• Expanding Housing Supply

  • Conducting a Neighborhood-Level Affordable Housing Report

  • Fast-Track Permitting and Incentives for Affordable Housing

  • Create a Public Land Bank to Secure Land for Affordable Housing

  • Municipal Public Developer of Social Housing

  • A municipal public developer would:

    • Prioritize speculation by removing land from the speculative market and ensuring it is used for community benefit

    • Utilize public land for long-term, mixed-income housing developments

    • Reinvest rental revenue into maintaining and expanding the city’s affordable housing stock

    • Reduce reliance on private developers, whose projects often fail to serve the lowest-income residents

  • Expand Affordability through Inclusionary Zoning

  • Supporting Community Land Trusts for Long-Term Affordability

  • Reforming Tax Sale Policies to Prevent Displacement

• Rental Market Regulation

  • Vacancy Tax: Discouraging Speculative Holding and Ensuring Housing Availability

  • Rental Algorithm Price-Setting Ban: Preventing Artificial Rent Inflation

  • Addressing Student Housing and Neighborhood Stability

    • Create tailored zoning regulations rather than broad buffer zones, allowing different approaches for different institutions.

    • Manage student housing density in residential neighborhoods by refining existing zoning laws and directing higher-density student housing toward designated areas.

    • Encourage purpose-built student housing in commercial zones adjacent to campuses, reducing the strain on surrounding communities.

    • Adjust parking requirements to address congestion and minimize the impact of student vehicles on residential streets.

    • Strengthen enforcement mechanisms to curb the unchecked conversion of homes into student rentals and reduce speculative real estate investment.

  • Rental Registry: Increasing Transparency and Accountability in the Housing Market

  • Rent Stabilization: Protecting Residents from Sudden, Unaffordable Rent Hikes; A well-designed policy would:

    • Cap annual rent increases at the lower of either a set percentage or the annual change in the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

    • Maintain rent stabilization when a unit becomes vacant, preventing excessive rent hikes between tenancies.

    • Allow landlords to apply for limited rent increases to cover documented building-wide capital improvements, with cost pass-throughs capped and phased out once costs are recouped.

    • Ensure exemptions for small landlords renting a limited number of units while applying protections broadly to multi-unit buildings.

    • Require landlords to provide 90 days’ notice for any rent increase, ensuring transparency and predictability for tenants.

    • Establish clear penalties for landlords who attempt to bypass regulations through unjustified evictions or excessive rent hikes.

    • Take other annual costs into consideration, such as taxation rates.

• Strengthening Tenant Protections

  • Right of First Refusal: Preserving Affordable Housing and Preventing Speculative Buyouts

  • Advocate for Right to Counsel at the State Level

  • Create an Emergency Eviction Prevention Fund

• Homelessness and Emergency Shelter

  • Ensuring Housing First is the Foundation of Homelessness Solutions

  • Expanding Emergency Shelter Capacity and Immediate Relief

  • Prioritizing City Funding for Permanent Supportive Housing

  • Strengthening Stakeholder Coordination and Governance

The proposals in the HCTF report represent a natural next step following this council’s efforts over the past two years to provide relief to the city’s overburdened housing market. During this time, under the leadership of City Council President Rachel Miller, the council has waged a relentless campaign against the out-of-state corporate interests that have profited from the outrageously high cost of housing in Providence at the expense of working families. In May of this year, for example, the city council made Providence just the sixth city in the country to ban the use of predatory, price-fixing rental algorithms, and set a limit on the bulk purchase of properties through online tax sales, a favorite tactic of large, out-of-state private equity firms. The recommendations made in the HCTF report will build upon this progress to ensure Providence remains a place where its residents can afford to live and thrive.

The full council will receive the report at this Thursday’s meeting.