Rhode Island

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Rhode Island Housing

RIHousing strives to ensure that all people who live in Rhode Island can afford a healthy, attractive home that meets their needs. A good home provides the foundation upon which individuals and families thrive, children learn and grow, and communities prosper.

Relationship to Local Government: Self-Supporting Quasi-Public Entity

Current Staff Size: 228

Visit RIHousing's Website
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1973

RIHousing established by the General Assembly

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1988

Begins administration of Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program

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1991

Begins administration of the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program

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2000

Begins Performance-Based Contract Administration

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2007

Opened the RIHousing HelpCenter

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2020

Launched Workforce Housing Program

$1.3B

Total Financing Provided Since 1973

23,654

Total Rental Units

70,043

Total Homeowners Served Since 1973

Signature Program

Ocean State Grad Grant

As a state that was one of the last to move beyond the effects of the Great Recession, and with a large percentage of residents held back by high student loan debt, RIHousing developed an innovative program to help recent college graduates put down roots in the Ocean State.

The Ocean State Grad Grant provided up to $7,000 toward the purchase of a home to prospective first-time homebuyers who graduated in the past three years.

Grad Grant Recipients: 367

Future Focus

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Carol Ventura

Executive Director 

“Homeownership can provide a path to economic stability, building wealth, and providing access to improved health and educational opportunities. For too long households of color have found that path blocked by the high cost of a down payment and mortgage qualifications that ignore non-traditional income and credit histories. RIHousing is committed to implementing innovative homeownership programs that support minority and first generation homebuyers with financial management education, mortgage products that provide a safety net, and long-term support for securing and maintaining a home.”

 

Success Stories
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Greenridge Commons

 

Burrillville, RI

Developed by NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley, Greenridge Commons features 96 rental homes in the village of Pascoag, helping the town meet the state goal of 10% affordable housing stock. The development illustrates Smart Growth principles promoting compact design, historic building patterns, retention of open space, and use of existing infrastructure and transportation routes. Greenridge Commons has successfully preserved 116 acres of open space.

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OpenDoors

 

Providence, RI

Rhode Island’s first large-scale development specifically created to support Rhode Islanders who are returning to the community after incarceration – OpenDoors – has successfully rehabilitated an historic former Sealtest Ice Cream Factory into affordable housing. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the building, built in 1907, once housed an ice cream factory and prior to rehabilitation, sat vacant for the two decades. Beyond providing critically-needed affordable apartments.

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Developed by the Housing Authority of Newport, Newport Heights is the redevelopment of a notorious public housing project, replacing seriously deteriorated pre-World War II barracks-style housing with new construction, mixed-income apartments.
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Providence Developed by The Arc of Blackstone Valley, Veterans for Tomorrow (VFT) provides 20 new apartments for veterans in a rehabilitated historic mill building.
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Developed by NeighborWorks Blackstone River Valley (NWBRV), the Fernwood Mutual Self-Help housing development in the village of Pascoag features 15 Colonial-style, single-family houses as part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Mutual Self-Help Housing Program.
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Developed by Crossroads RI, the state’s largest service provider of immediate and long-term assistance to Rhode Islanders who are homeless, Kingstown Crossings includes newly constructed, energy-efficient homes that replaced former Navy housing located on the site.
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Developed by Trinity Financial, 60 King represents the successful rehabilitation and reuse of a former industrial building into 60 units of much-needed housing across a range of income levels.