Rosebrook Commons, now under construction on West Main Road in Middletown, will have a total of 144 apartment units affordable to low- and moderate-income residents living above ground floor retail space. A bus stop is on the site’s northern corner. (Photo by Janine L. Weisman/Rhode Island Current)
Anyone who has tried to buy or rent a home lately in Rhode Island has seen firsthand the impacts of the state’s housing shortage, including bidding wars to access homeownership or significant yearly rent increases for tenants. The median sales price of a single-family home in Rhode Island rose to $520,000 as of June, 2025, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors, and rental costs in the Providence metro area climbed at one of the fastest rates in the nation, reflected in a median asking rent of $2,145.
A root problem is that Rhode Island is building fewer homes per capita than any other state in the nation. We need 24,000 homes just to meet today’s needs. With an average household size of 2.4, and a lower median household income than our neighboring states, new housing production must include smaller and more affordable options.
A recent Stateline story in Rhode Island Current detailed the impacts of the lack of homes for sale that are affordable options for teachers, highlighting that the housing crisis does not discriminate. Workers across all sectors and all educational backgrounds are impacted. The lack of homes in Rhode Island prevents teachers, child care workers, and retail workers from living in the communities they serve.
There is a profound irony in the fact that even builders of homes are priced out. Consider that someone earning the average income of a skilled trades worker with four-plus years of experience — $68,717 — is unable to afford most homes on the market in Rhode Island. A family of four now needs an annual income of $151,067 to purchase a home. This is dispiriting news for our state’s hardworking residents trying to secure a future for themselves and their families.
With an average household size of 2.4, and a lower median household income than our neighboring states, new housing production must include smaller and more affordable options.
The status quo has consequences; it pushes young people out of the communities they grew up in, as they move away in search of more affordable housing options. The lack of home choices stops older adults from downsizing into a more accessible home, putting them in a situation of maintaining a home that is too large, too expensive, or too difficult to move around in.
Allowing more types of homes can help address this shortage. That’s why we are thankful to the Rhode Island General Assembly for passing 10 housing-related bills. Neighbors Welcome! Rhode Island championed five in particular that will allow more homes — and more naturally affordable home types, such as townhomes or apartments in mixed use areas — to be built.
Among them is a new law that removes obstacles for townhomes and another law that allows smaller residences to be developed above retail spaces.
Townhomes are a great option for a first-time home buyer, or an older adult seeking to downsize. Slightly smaller, with less yard to take care of, these attached homes are often less expensive due to their smaller size and the sharing of land costs across multiple households. Legalizing townhomes in communities across Rhode Island will put more homeownership opportunities within reach of teachers, young adults just starting their families, and older neighbors who are looking to downsize.
State lawmakers also passed legislation to make it easier to build what are now called mixed-use developments to replace empty office buildings or aging strip malls with the kind of homes on walkable main streets so many people want to live in, with spaces for living and spaces for commerce together in one area.
These policies are popular with voters. Neighbors Welcome! Rhode Island recently conducted polling showing 88% public support for the state to do more to expand housing choices. We found that 70% of voters support allowing townhomes to be built anywhere other homes are built, and 87% support allowing homes to be built near jobs, shopping centers, in aging strip malls, or near transit.
These are policies and strategies we can use to build more home types so that every Rhode Islander has a choice about where they live, and what type of home they live in that isn’t solely dictated by cost. But they’re not the only ways we can give more choices to Rhode Islanders looking to find the homes they need here in the Ocean State. We made progress this legislative session, but there is much more to do. We look forward to more collaboration with the General Assembly next year.
5 legislative wins for new housing production in Rhode Island
The Rhode Island General Assembly passed these bills championed by Neighbors Welcome! Rhode Island in the 2025 session. Gov. Dan McKee signed them into law in late June and early July.
Mixed-Use Zones: H5800 | S1090A
Underused commercial land served by public infrastructure, aging strip malls and vacant commercial lots are an opportunity to build new homes and mixed-use neighborhoods while preserving the state’s farmlands and forests. This law allows cities and towns to apply mixed-use overlays in commercial zones where appropriate, ensuring new homes are not built near heavy industry or other environmental nuisances.
Electronic Permitting: H5803Aaa | S1087
Rhode Island has made significant progress in reducing delays by creating a new online permitting system, but many state and local permits remain to be added to the platform. This law empowers the Department of Business Regulation to continue expanding e-permitting, speeding up new home construction and creating cost-savings that can be passed on to residents.
Oversized Lot Splits: H5794B | S1086Aaa
This law allows double lots to be subdivided for new homes as long as the newly created lots resemble nearby parcels, maintaining neighborhood character. For example, a 10,000-square foot lot surrounded by 5,000-square foot lots could be divided in two.
Townhomes offer a path to homeownership at a more affordable price point and are significantly easier for builders to finance compared to condominiums. This law allows for townhomes in residential zoning districts at reasonable levels of density, depending on the type of community, while allowing cities and towns to retain control over key design characteristics.
Building Code Changes: H5804A | S1089Aaa
New triple-deckers or other small multifamily buildings in Rhode Island have had to meet the same commercial building code requirements as high rises, shopping malls, and hospitals. That’s cost-prohibitive. So this law reclassifies three- and four-family homes as residential, making these homes more cost- effective to build while maintaining the high safety standards of modern construction.