On Nov. 16, over 100 Brown students donned bright orange t-shirts declaring that "Half of Our Neighbors Can't Afford Housing" in support of Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. While more dramatic issues - including homeless encampments and overflowing family shelters - played a prominent role in the week's programming, students also advocated the adoption of an inclusionary zoning ordinance in Providence, which some say would greatly alleviate the city's affordable housing crisis.
An inclusionary zoning ordinance in Providence would curb gentrification by mandating that developers earmark between 10 and 20 percent of units in new projects as "affordable to low or moderate income households," according to a brochure published by the Statewide Housing Action Coalition.
PolicyLink, a national nonprofit research and advocacy organization, is conducting a study to see if the Providence housing market can continue to prosper if new developments are required to include a certain percentage of affordable units. In addition, the study seeks to identify appropriate offsets to compensate developers for the constraints.
Such offsets could include height and density bonuses, said Ward 1 City Councilman David Segal. By allowing construction companies to build higher and more densely, Providence can potentially negate any loss in profit margins those developers would face as a result of creating affordable housing units, he said.
The study is close to completion, according to Bert Cooper, program coordinator for the Providence Local Learning Partnership, a local initiative contracted with PolicyLink. "We have been trying to put together a coherent set of numbers around what it would look like for developers in Providence to do this, and that has taken us longer than expected," he said.
Once the PolicyLink study has been submitted, "we and our community partners will be asking the city to explore adopting the policy and implementing the policy," he said.
PolicyLink has recently published similar studies in New York City and Washington, D.C.
While local politicians say they are aware of the local affordable housing crisis, some have expressed concern about the impact mandatory inclusionary zoning could have on the city's broader economic growth.
"It's a balancing act between making sure we're not slowing down overall growth - which is really the main long-term driver behind our ability to create more housing -and a tactical effort of getting more affordable housing in the new developments that are going downtown," said Rhoades Alderson, a spokesman for Mayor David Cicilline '83.
According to Segal, there are currently no specific requirements for affordable housing units in Providence, though there is an affordable housing trust fund of approximately $2 million that developers pay into. Segal said he believes implementation of an inclusionary zoning ordinance could produce "several million dollars" annually in new affordable construction.
Segal said that supporters of the ordinance would focus on including affordable units in condominium developments as opposed to rentals. "The overwhelming majority of projects are very high-end luxury condos located downtown. (Affordable units downtown) would allow us to maintain socioeconomic diversity downtown and do something to satisfy the 40 percent of households in Providence that currently can't afford the housing they are living in," he said.
"We want developers to build affordable housing amidst the market rate housing, so that they are not building housing projects in the conventional sense," he said.
The Students Hunger and Homelessness Action Coalition, in cooperation with Housing Opportunities for People Everywhere, sponsored the "Day of Action" Nov. 16, wrote J.T. Do '07 in an e-mail to The Herald.
"It's always a struggle to get students interested in issues with poverty, housing and homelessness," said Rachel Lauter '06, a member of SHHAC. "But I was really impressed with the responses we got when students came to talk to us about it because it is such a crisis in Providence."
The ordinance could potentially affect Brown students, Segal said. "If you make things more affordable in one part of the city you will tend to reduce the burden of rents on people throughout the city," he said.
Segal mentioned that several development proposals of over 10 units near Wayland Square could also potentially have an effect on campus.
"Hopefully there will be more news on this by the time students get back to campus after winter break," Segal said. "We'll see organizing coalescing and the ordinance will be able to start moving through the Council."
Cooper conceded that even an inclusionary zoning ordinance will not solve all the city's housing problems. "We know given the need in the city that it is going to take a much broader set of programs and policies than just inclusionary zoning."
