VOTE YES ON BALLOT MEASURES #3 and #4 

With election day only 24 hours away, Grow Smart Rhode Island urges all Rhode Island voters to expand our residents’ housing and economic opportunities and protect our State’s beauty, magic, and soul by supporting the State Housing and Green Economy Bonds, Ballot items 3 and 4.  Below is more detail about why we support each of these proposals. 

Housing Bond, Ballot Item #3: 

Rhode Island has both a housing affordability and housing supply crisis, crises which are related and are overstretching hundreds of thousands of Rhode Islanders’ household budgets and limiting their economic advancement. In fact, recent findings from Housing Works RI indicate that approximately half of Rhode Island renters are cost burdened, along with one quarter of homeowners. 

If our state, our neighborhoods and our residents are to progress economically and socially, we need to continue working to reverse these trends through an “all in” effort which includes more housing production funding, improved infrastructure and technical assistance for local governments committed to addressing our major housing challenges. and land use reforms to encourage further development of multifamily workforce housing in more of our Main Street and Downtown neighborhoods, and commercial corridors.  

The $120 million Housing Bond on the ballot tomorrow focuses mainly on housing production funding, related infrastructure and technical assistance, and should complement the land use reforms passed in recent years whose overall thrust Grow Smart RI has supported. 

This Bond is not a panacea for a set of crises which have been at least twenty years in the making, but it is a strong step in the right direction, and an opportunity we must seize for a more prosperous, fair and healthy state.  

For all these reasons we urge Rhode Island voters to “Vote Yes on 3”!  

And, if as we hope and assume, this measure passes, we advocate that the State prioritize using the Bond’s proceeds to encourage a “location efficient” approach to housing production, one in which new housing is sited where people can access many of  the basic services and amenities of daily life by transit, walking or bicycling vs. needing to rely on cars for all routine trips. Such an approach will be good for our residents’ pocketbooks, health and overall quality of life.  

To accelerate further “location efficient housing production, we also have joined with Preserve RI on a major campaign to reform and recapitalize the State Historic Tax Credit, a proven tool for facilitating major, attractive housing development in and around our iconic Main Streets and Downtowns. For more information on this campaign, click here

Green Economy Bond, Ballot Item #4: 

To safeguard so much of what makes RI special —and marketable to the outside world– and to play with laser like precision to our State’s many place-based strengths, Grow Smart RI has supported every Open Space and Green Economy Bond presented to the RI electorate during our 26-year history. This year is no exception. 

We therefore urge all Rhode Island voters to support Ballot Item #4, the Green Economy Bond. This measure provides for $53 million in general obligation bonds to advance Rhode Island’s Green Economy and public health in a variety of creative and essential ways.   

We are especially enthusiastic about provisions in the Bond for funding farm conservation and forest management, the State’s Brownfield Clean Up Grant program, local parks and recreation initiatives, Open Space protection and an additional $20 million for Davisville Port upgrades to accelerate development of the State’s economically and environmentally potent offshore wind industry.   

With prudent investments such as these in our State’s key assets and competitive advantages, Grow Smart RI is convinced that our State will continue to progress and offer more economic and quality of life opportunities for all our residents. 

Please “Vote Yes on 4” to help our gem of a State continue playing to its strengths and protecting its beauty, magic and soul!