Providence, state officials propose legislation to ease housing crunch

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Providence City Council President Rachel Miller has announced two new ordinances, designed to tackle the housing crisis in the city, by limiting the chance of corporate landlord price manipulation.

The dual measures would first ban the use of price-fixing algorithms for setting rent, and second, ban online tax sales.

A tax sale happens when a municipality auctions off property as the result of delinquent debt.

President Miller said those sales are often used to “dispossess working class communities.”

At the state house, a bill has been introduced that would encourage more single family townhomes.

One of the authors, Representative June Speakman, said on the bill:

With options like townhomes and similar attached dwellings, families, seniors and singles looking for starter homes will be able to achieve homeownership.

Under the bill, these units would be built in towns where zoning already permits vertical structures, and would not force municipalities to accept an “increase in density.”