State doles out millions in funding for subsidized housing units. See where they are.
PROVIDENCE − A bevy of income-restricted housing projects, and apartments in market-rate projects, received promises of help on Thursday when RI Housing awarded millions in loans and tax credits valued at more than $100 million.
Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor, chairing the meeting, said the 1,000 units financed is not "trivial." There will be another funding round for projects with applications open in the summer, with a pot of $10 million, including for site acquisition, pre-development, housing production and aid to people near the poverty line.
The RI Housing Board of Commissioners voted on 18 awards, contracts and approvals without any discussion or debate of the projects, noting that many had already been discussed in committee meetings.
Will all this housing money make a difference?
After the hearing, Pryor said RI Housing needs its "coffers replenished" after awarding so much funding, which would be helped by the proposed $100-million housing bond.
The state is building about 1,000 units a year but needs to be building 2,000 to 3,000 just to keep up with the current demand – and build a lot more than that to start bringing down rental prices amid soaring demand, he said.
What received funding from the state?
The state awarded a bevy of different funds, loans and federal low income housing tax credits, also known as LIHTC.
Those low income housing tax credits have been the recent source of scrutiny and consternation as one state senator estimated $1 billon in the federal funding went unused and was wasted by the state.
According to the analysis by Sen. Sam Bell and intern Phoebe Dragseth, Rhode Island missed out on an average of $197.3 million a year between 2014 and 2020 by spending money to maintain current housing stock.
Among the projects that received funds on Thursday were:
Rosebrook Commons, Middletown: $1 million in low income housing tax credits and $14.2 million in loans toward 64 income-restricted units in a 144-unit mixed-use development at 1747 West Main Road.
Reynolds Farm Senior Housing, North Kingstown: $19.5 million in loans for 40 income- and age-restricted units, plus an additional 40 units already built.
Ade Bethune House, Portsmouth: $22.8 million in loans toward a 54-unit apartment complex of income- and age-restricted units and a senior center at 110 Bristol Ferry Road.
City Center Apartments, East Providence: $1.6 million in low-income housing tax credits, $1 million in Community Revitalization Program funds and $20.6 million in loans toward 144 income-restricted units in two new buildings in East Providence and the renovation of a third building at 330, 340 and 350 Taunton Ave.
Omni Newark Apartments, Providence: $1.3 million in low income housing tax credits and $5.6 million in loans toward a proposed 52-unit, 5-story building at 11 Newark St.
Parcel 9, I-195 development by Pennrose, Providence: $1 million in low-income housing tax credits and $14.2 million in loans toward a mixed-income, mixed-use project at the edge of Fox Point, with a second phase of 61 units planned.
321 Knight St., Providence: $1.3 million in low income housing tax credits and $6 million in loans toward a 41-unit apartment building, all units income restricted.
The Villages at Manville, Lincoln: $1.3 million in low income housing tax credits and $13 million in loans toward a development of 72 units in two buildings.
Park Holm Phase V, Newport: $18.3 million in loans toward the final phase of the redevelopment of a pubic housing project in Newport with added units.
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Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: RI Housing issues millions in loans for subsidized housing projects
