Speaker Shekarchi introduces his 2024 Housing legislation package

“People ask me, 'Why do you keep introducing housing legislation?' My answer is, ‘Look around. Have we solved the problem? No, not even close.'"

“Housing is an issue that affects everybody in their lives, but it's also an economic development issue,” said Speaker of the House K. Joseph Shekarchi to a packed room in the Rhode Island State House as he announced his 2024 package of housing legislation. “Two new companies here in Rhode Island are growing - Region Craft down in Quonsett, and Breeze Airlines. They are currently struggling to bring employees to this state because they cannot find adequate housing.

“Housing is an economic development issue,” continued the Speaker. “People ask me, why do you keep introducing housing legislation? The House has already passed, over the last three years, more than 30 bills. My answer is, ‘Look around. Have we solved the problem? No, not even close.”

“Let's be very clear: That doesn't mean that this is a hopeless situation or that the legislation we've already passed hasn't worked because it's quite the opposite. Our housing and homelessness crisis didn't happen overnight. It's been decades in the making and unfortunately may get worse as interest rates come down. It's going to take a sustained effort to fix this problem.”

The legislation

The Speaker unveiled the following bills. Some are new, some are tweaks to bills previously passed. “I want to emphasize that there are other housing bills that are not part of this package,” said the Speaker. The [Housing and Land-Use] Commissions and we in the House don't have a monopoly on good ideas and what you see today is not the end-all-be-all. We are open to considering any ideas.”

• 2024-H 7062, sponsored by Representative June Speakman (Democrat, District 68, Bristol, Warren) this legislation would provide homeowners the right to develop an ADU for a family member with a disability, or within the existing footprint of their structures or on any lot larger than 20,000 square feet, provided that the design satisfies building code, size limits, and infrastructure requirements. Speaker Shekarchi is the bill’s top cosponsor. This legislation passed the House on February 14, 2024.

  • “The House has already passed this year's version of that bill and it's in the Senate,” said the Speaker. “It's the number one legislative priority of the AARP. We'll continue to work with our partners in the Senate to get this over the goal line. It is a significant piece of legislation that will help alleviate the housing crisis. One thing about ADUs that is not acceptable is an owner-occupied requirement because as the Brookings Institute says, this requirement is a poison pill.”

• 2024-H 7980, sponsored by Speaker Shekarchi (Democrat, District 23, Warwick), allows, by right, manufactured homes constructed following HUD Regulations as an alternative option to stick-built homes where single-family housing is allowed.

  • “Some communities right now prohibit manufactured homes, even homes that meet HUD requirements, which I might say are stricter in Rhode Island,” noted the Speaker. “This is a low-cost option that cities and towns should be allowed to consider. It doesn't mean overnight you're going to have a house to live in put up. A manufactured home needs to meet all of the same requirements as any other stick-built home. It gives people a lower-cost option for new construction. 20 million Americans live in manufactured homes and the manufactured homes of today are much different than the stereotypical mobile homes of the past.”

• 2024-H 7979, sponsored by Speaker Shekarchi, is enabling legislation to create a pilot program giving municipalities the authority to combine zoning and planning boards into one so long as the agenda reflects what authority an application is being heard under. This would allow a more expedited process or allow municipalities that cannot get members to fill their boards to utilize one board for both. It does not impact the local appointment of members.

  • “This piece of legislation is enabling. It is not a requirement,” said the Speaker. “This would allow cities and towns to combine their zoning and planning boards into one specific board if they so desire. Several years ago we passed unified development. Some communities use it, some communities don't. It's enabling. The town of Johnston used it very effectively to lure Citizens Bank to Johnston. They had an expedited approval process of allowing the local cities and towns to do that. This will streamline the process. This will save the cities and towns staff, advertising costs, application fees, and the applicant time as well. They can go to one board instead of two boards.”

• 2024-H 7981, sponsored by Representative Joshua Giraldo (Democrat, District 56, Central Falls), would allow, by right, residential uses in commercial zones. Existing law allows “households” in all zoning districts by right, yet residential is prohibited by some municipalities in commercial zones. This legislation makes clear that residential use is allowed in commercial zones and it is allowed in industrial zones unless public health/safety would prohibit that usage. It does not alter other municipal zoning requirements for residential uses in these zones.

  • “This is part of evolving last year's bill regarding adaptive reuse,” said the Speaker. “Projects would still have to meet all the residential requirements regarding parking and setbacks. I'm going to give you two examples where I think this would be effective. Think of an area in your hometown where you see a house or a law office that looks like a house or a small business office and for whatever reason that professional office, like a dentist's office, does not get used any longer in that professional capacity. A lot of times those particular properties are zoned office, business, village business, or village commercial. This would allow for residential use. You still have to meet all of the requirements as a residential zone, but you would not have to go through the rezoning process. Additionally, think of a small strip of mom-and-pop, neighborhood-type operations - a restaurant, a convenience store, maybe a dry cleaner. This would allow residential use to be added if the community wanted. You still have to meet all your requirements for parking and landscaping and you're likely still going to need a site planning review from your planning and zoning board, but you can add residential on top of commercial. This was recently done in the city of Cranston and I applaud them for that. It is a mixed-use zoning application.”

• 2024-H 7983, sponsored by Representative Cherie Cruz (Democrat, District 58, Pawtucket), would clarify the makeup and structure of the State Building Code Office and also clarify the role of the State Building Code Commissioner. It modifies statutory language to create a similar scope of responsibility and authority over building code issues, as the State Fire Marshal has over fire code issues.

  • “This does not replace local building inspectors,” noted the Speaker. “It does not change any of the local inspections.”

• 2024-H 7978, sponsored by Speaker Shekarchi, is enabling legislation that builds upon the platform established and created by the Rhode Island Department of Business Regulation, which is currently in use and required for building permits for applications and submissions for planning and zoning. The legislation would provide greater transparency and efficiency, streamline processes, and make timelines and submission requirements more clear. It does not require the usage of local budget funds; rather it utilizes an existing state database to be adapted to fit these applications.

  • “What we are proposing in this legislation, at no cost to cities and towns and giving them 18 months to comply, is to take that same portal used for building permits to put your planning and zoning applications online as well,” said Speaker Shekarchi. “We think this would be a way to streamline the process - to unify it - and make it easier for all involved, especially in some of the communities that have part-time planners and part-time zoning officials because they're working in multiple communities at the same time. This would be an easier way. We think it brings Rhode Island into the current state of affairs in terms of being digital, and as we move forward, we think e-permits are part of the future. They're working in other parts of the country.”

• 2024-H 7977, sponsored by Speaker Shekarchi, establishes an 11-member commission to study the ability of the Rhode Island educational system to offer degrees or certificates to provide a supply/pipeline of planners, planning technicians, and staff, and report back to the General Assembly by January 1, 2025. Its purpose is to address a shortage of planning professionals in the state and the lack of a local educational program to establish a pipeline for these jobs.

  • “We need more planners in Rhode Island,” said Speaker Shekarchi. “The future of Rhode Island is climate resiliency. We have a housing crisis, we have a development crisis. We need more bodies in this field. We don't know if we're going to emulate U-Conn, which has a very good program for getting a degree in planning, urban planning, and residential, suburban, and rural planning, but we're going to put together a blue ribbon commission, which will hopefully report back to the General Assembly in January of 2025. We will then begin to work with our educational institutions in Rhode Island to create a curriculum for the younger generation. Some of our planners, who are good friends of mine, are a little bit like me, long in the tooth, getting to the second half of our professional careers. [We need] the next generation of planners to step up and I want to make sure that they're trained, ready, and fully understand the needs of today and tomorrow.

• 2024-H 7986, sponsored by Representative José Batista (Democrat, District 12, Providence) amends the existing statute for abandoned properties to further require municipal inventory, with yearly updating, as to “abandoned” properties” as defined in the statute and clarifies the process regarding the required abatement of abandoned properties.

  • “There's a process I call a 'mini receivership,'“ said the Speaker. “We were able to take these single and multi-family homes that have been abandoned for a whole host of reasons and rehabilitate them. Hopefully, this legislation will expedite the process for more affordable housing as well. The process will be developed so that affordable housing goes through this mini receivership at a much faster pace. It's taking property that's already zoned and already on the books for residential use and getting them back to an active status.”

• 2024-H 7949, sponsored by Representative Robert Craven, Sr. (Democrat, District 32, North Kingstown), makes amendments and clarifications to various provisions relative to subdivision of land review, review stages, special provisions related to development, and the procedures for approvals from various permitting authorities. It is based upon feedback from municipalities (League of Cities and Towns) and the RI APA planners.

  • “This was a new law, it was a pretty important law, and it was a pretty broad law,” said the Speaker about the legislation this bill seeks to amend. “We have some feedback from cities and towns that have implemented the law. We're going to work with our partners at the municipal level, through our commissions and the committee process, to hopefully clear up any ambiguities in the law and make it better.”

• 2024-H 7948, sponsored by Representative Joseph Solomon, Jr. (Democrat, District 22, Warwick), provides amendments to the requirements of the inclusionary zoning law for affordable housing development to incorporate feedback from the Rhode Island Chapter of the American Planning Association. Inclusionary zoning is an optional tool for municipalities to require the provision of affordable units in conjunction with the development of market-rate units. This legislation does not alter municipal approval requirements.

  • “Last year we gave a density bonus of two-for-one,” said the Speaker. “This scales that back for affordable housing, back to a one-to-one ratio. Why are we doing that? Because we heard from our cities and towns that they thought the two-for-one was too much density. Some communities eliminated inclusionary zoning and that was not the goal of the legislation. We're going to work with them to change this requirement and scale it back. The hope and the desire here is that if the communities that have eliminated inclusionary zoning like the new version, they will continue to preclude more inclusionary zoning codes to help affordable housing in Rhode Island.”

• 2024-H 7982, sponsored by Representative Terri Cortvriend (Democrat, District 72, Middletown, Portsmouth), amends provisions relative to the application of zoning ordinances about wetland buffers to projects for development, redevelopment, construction, or rehabilitation. The legislation makes clear that there can be no local regulation of coastal wetlands and freshwater wetlands beyond the requirements of the state agency requirements. The legislation does not take away any responsibility from the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) or the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM).

  • “This bill is important because there are some communities that, after you have received your DEM or CRMC approval, have their own coastal or wetland overlay zones,” said the Speaker. “This is above and beyond the state requirements and those requirements make it extremely difficult to obtain a building permit. If you've gone through the DEM process and DEM gives you approval regarding wetlands, that should be the end of the issue for wetlands approval. Quite frankly, the municipalities do not have the staff, expertise, environmental engineers, or coastal biologists needed to supersede DEM or CRMC, so this legislation, as proposed, would allow the buck to stop with DEM and CRMC. If CRMC says this project meets the compliance and intent and we're willing to issue approval - cities and towns cannot use the excuse of additional requirements beyond what CRMC has already said and the same thing goes for wetlands. This is not happening in a lot of communities, but it's happening in some communities, particularly in South County. It makes it very difficult to develop housing.”

• 2024-H 7950, sponsored by Representative Leonela Felix (Democrat, District 61, Pawtucket), requires cities/towns to allow up to three disclosed options on the types of financial security to be provided by developers on projects that include public improvements (such as surety bonds, letters of credit, cash). Municipalities cannot limit the bond to one specific type but still retain all ability to require bonds and improvement guarantees for public improvements.

• 2024-H 7951, sponsored by Representative Craven, clarifies the circumstances under which a municipality can limit accepting and hearing development applications and limit building permits and specifies the timeframes in which those limitations can be in place.

  • “The bill that we're proposing does not ban or eliminate moratoriums,” said the Speaker. “It creates structure and requires municipalities to give justification and reasons. If they're putting a moratorium on building permits, zoning applications, or planning applications, we're not stopping that process. For whatever reason some communities may have to from time to time, but we want them to be on justified grounds, based on fact, not as an excuse to prevent housing or to prevent development.”

• 2024-H 7984, sponsored by Representative Carol Hagan McEntee (Democrat, District 33, Narragansett, South Kingstown), allows municipalities to count mobile home units as affordable housing if they meet certain requirements, including that they are permanent housing. Mobile homes could be applied toward the goal of 10% of a municipality’s housing stock to be low- and moderate-income housing, with ½ credit per qualifying mobile home.

  • “Mobile homes in Rhode Island are not allowed to be counted towards the affordable housing rolls, and they should be,” declared the Speaker. “We heard loud and clear from communities that have mobile homes that it's a good idea. This particular legislation is different from legislation we have had in the past. Mobile homes are the most affordable non-subsidized options for a lot of people and a lot of mobile home parks in Rhode Island are very nice places to live. Hopefully, this would encourage communities to welcome mobile homes as a way of meeting their affordable housing goals.

• 2024-H 7985, sponsored by Representative Tina Spears (Democrat, District 36, Charlestown, South​​ Kingstown, New Shoreham, Westerly), further enables statewide planning, in conjunction with other agencies and the University of Rhode Island, to broaden the state’s GIS to include updated municipal information, such as zoning, and develop greater utilization, public access and transparency across the state. It encourages collaboration between municipalities, nonprofits, and state agencies.

  • “This will hopefully save time and put developments where they belong and where the municipalities suggest they belong,” noted the Speaker. “This is a very important piece of legislation that will help us with public transit and TOD - transit-oriented development.”

“Let me tell you what this package does not do,” said Speaker Shekarchi. “This package does not have any cost to cities and towns…”

Speaker Shekarchi mentioned two pieces of legislation being worked on that are not part of the housing package, but have some promise.

“I want to congratulate and applaud Representative David Morales (Democrat, District 7, Providence),” said the Speaker. “He's been working very hard on a rent subsidy bill. He continues to work and refine that I think it's an idea worth some merit - the team will look at that as the session proceeds. There's a fiscal cost of $5 million. Why I say that is because there are a lot of asks out there with very limited income, but we're going to try to work on that because it means so much.

“I want to also congratulate Representative Jacquelyn Baginski (Democrat, District 17, Cranston), who chairs the House Committee on Innovation, Internet, and Technology. She's working to sponsor legislation that bans AI algorithms from determining rental policies. We have not seen that in Rhode Island, but in other states, landlords are buying programs that tell them that they can raise the rent and that this market can support higher rents. The market is so tight because their inventory is so low that they're raising rents just because they can, not because they need to, not because they've had increased insurance or an increase in taxes or they're putting a new roof on it. They're doing it based on these AI algorithms. We want to prohibit that. Other states are doing the same thing and I want Rhode Island to do it upfront and first.”

The Speaker assured cities and towns that his legislation is intended to create more housing, not impose new burdens on communities.

“None of this legislation will force municipalities to build more affordable housing. None of it takes away the local decision-making process. We are looking to streamline the process and make it more transparent and consistent, as in previous years. The goal of this legislation is to develop more housing at every level - market-rate housing, workforce housing, moderate-income housing, and low-income housing. I encouraged production, production, and production.”

Postscript:

The Speaker started his press conference in a somewhat unusual fashion, by complimenting the press:

“I'm going to start this press conference by doing something that I've never done in my elected life, certainly not as the Speaker. I want to say something about the media today and this may surprise you, but I'm going to thank the media. Most of you in this room understand the depth of Rhode Island's housing and homelessness crisis, but the media in Rhode Island in the past year have elevated the issue in the perception, the eyes, and the consciousness of the public.

“WPRI, Tim White, Ted Nesi, and many others, just did a week-long series that dug into the depth and complexity of our housing and homelessness crisis in Rhode Island.

“The Boston Globe with Alexa Gagosz did a feature of a family that had spent thousands of dollars on rental application fees yet still wasn't able to secure housing. That story led to legislation and that legislation led to a law, that I'm proud to say today, bans rental application fees in Rhode Island.

“The Providence Journal has been highlighting this issue. Patrick Anderson and [Wheeler Cowperthwaite] have been doing a phenomenal job over the past year.

“Ian Donnis at The Public's Radio has done a deep dive into many of the complex issues regarding homelessness and housing in Rhode Island.

“Steve Ahlquist has made it his mission to show the hardships faced by too many Rhode Island who are struggling to find or keep a home. I could go on and on. Those are just a few of the ways our local media has worked to raise public awareness and I'm deeply grateful.”