HOUSING STABILITY FOR RHODE ISLANDERS: Recommended Priorities for Investing ARPA Funds

The American Rescue Plan Act signed by Biden in March provides an extraordinary opportunity for federal investment to respond to the coronavirus public health emergency and help redress its devastating economic effects. This summer, Homes RI, along with our partners, began drafting a list of recommendations to the RI Foundation’s Make it Happen Steering Committee, on how to strategically use some of those funds to address the State’s urgent housing needs. These strategies are intended to utilize and expand existing funds and programs — and are not intended to replace any existing federal, state, or local housing finance programs.

In August, as Homes RI sought to refine our top priorities for ARPA funds, we circulated a survey to ascertain which items would have the most impact. You can view the results on our blog here. More than 50 coalition members responded, reflecting a broad cross-section of organizations and interests, including developers, health care organizations, service providers, legal services, advocates, residents, and philanthropic organizations. Using these survey results, Homes RI partners Crossroads Rhode Island, Housing Network of Rhode Island, HousingWorks RI, and ONE Neighborhood Builders further developed a targeted, defined set of recommendations with specified dollar amounts, results, mechanisms, and policies .

These recommendations seek to advance the housing community’s goals to 1) Increase the supply of affordable homes through housing production, protection, and preservation; 2) Remove barriers to accessing housing and to promote housing stability; and 3) Support municipalities and the State to provide safe and healthy homes. We are respectfully requesting that $500 million of Rhode Island’s ARPA funds be allocated to affordable housing.

For the full list of newly defined recommendations, view our PDF here.