Local officials celebrate groundbreaking of ‘Tandem,’ a new affordable housing development in Providence

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — Local leaders gathered for the groundbreaking of Tandem in Fox Point on Monday.

At the ribbon cutting, officials and developers celebrated the completion of phase 1 of the affordable housing project, the Tempo building, and the ongoing construction of phase 2, which is the Tandem development.

The two apartment buildings will hold 127 affordable housing units, the Children’s Friend early childhood center, and community space.

At the event, Mayor Brett Smiley said the development’s affordable housing units will help combat the state’s housing shortage.

“We have a critical shortage of housing, everyone in Rhode Island knows the cost of housing has gone up extraordinarily high,” Smiley said. “In Providence, we have some of the steepest, fastest growing rents in the country, and so not only is more supply and more housing at every price point necessary, this development in particular has a range of subsidize permanently affordable housing units from very low-income to workforce housing, and so it will be accessible to any resident of Providence.”

This development is part of the I-195 redevelopment project.