Housing Affordability

In today’s heated political debates, one issue stands out as undeniably urgent: housing affordability. It is a driving force behind the inflation squeezing our daily lives. In our city of East Providence, we see this manifest as the shortage of affordable housing for working families.

My job is in the field of Surveying, working on infrastructure, schools, and developments both public and private. My wife works in behavioral healthcare. Despite our adequate salaries, we — like many other working families in this city — struggle to attain the American Dream of home ownership. This dilemma is overwhelmingly due to the lack of supply in the housing market, causing prices for what would once qualify as “starter homes” to exceed upwards of $400,000. Here in our city of East Providence, the annual household income required to responsibly purchase a home is $132,410/yr, while the median household income in Rhode Island is a comparatively harrowing $81,370/yr (HousingWorks RI).

To tackle the housing crisis, we must commit to a multi-pronged approach. Two proposed bills offer a clear path forward. H5798 would streamline the construction of attached single-family homes, which make efficient use of the valuable and limited land resources in our city. Another bill, H5799, would cut through the red tape I’ve seen firsthand in my profession to allow for easy subdivision of double-lots. These bills are practical steps towards addressing the housing needs of our community. I urge our state representatives to support these bills and ensure their passage this legislative session.

Jimmy Dufurrena