The other challenge, the plan says, is that taking steps to upgrade the availability and quality of housing in “less-competitive” parts of the city, draws more affluent new residents to those areas.
The less wealthy residents who already live in these locations can face pressures to leave.
A “balancing” needs to accompany such investments, providing existing residents with “the potential to remain in their community,” says the draft strategy.
More than 50% of renter households earn less than $32,800, says the plan. And more than 24% of Providence households, it says, are severely cost-burdened, which means they pay more than 50% of their gross income on the cost of their housing.
The draft strategy is the product of 10 months of work that ranged from discussion groups and stakeholder interviews to community working sessions. RKG Associates was engaged to analyze the local housing market.
The plan tries to address findings during that process, such as a determination that almost 70% of the city’s housing was built prior to 1959.
The new city housing bond will be capitalized with 10% of tax payments that the city derives from tax stabilization agreements, officials say. The bond is administered by the Providence Redevelopment Agency.
On Wednesday, citing the new financing tool, officials called for developers to make new affordable housing proposals.
Proceeds from the bond will be lent to affordable housing developers to fill gaps in their project budgets. The money must be repaid.
The City Council’s majority leader, Jo-Ann Ryan, said that “so many” in Providence are “cost-burdened.”
source: provincejournal.com
