Shekarchi announces slate of housing legislation

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — House Speaker Joseph Shekarchi announced a 12-bill package of legislation regarding housing issues in Rhode Island on Thursday.

Shekarchi said that the slate of legislation includes input from the Special Legislative Commission to Affordable Housing and the Special Legislative Commission to Study Land Use.

“As home prices and rents increase, it’s not just working families who are getting priced out of the housing market: people on the lower end of the income spectrum are disproportionately affected, and the data shows that homelessness increases in correlation with the cost of housing,” Shekarchi said. “I am so appreciative of all of the partners who continue to work with me to address our housing shortage.”

The slate of bills include clarification on the state’s building code, the expansion of electronic permitting, technical amendments to the Zoning Enabling Act and Subdivision Act, amendments to the state Low and Moderate Housing Act, the development of state-owned vacant lots for housing, temporary exemptions from the tax levy cap to accommodate new housing, assurances that builders could rely on zoning decision, requirements for mixed-use zoning, encouragement of higher density developments, encouraging attached single family dwellings to be built, subdividing oversized lots, and the development of co-housing arrangements as energy-efficient, low-cost housing options similar to dorms.