To help the state’s diverse municipalities address mounting affordable housing challenges, RIHousing, Rhode Island’s housing finance agency, introduced a technical assistance program to connect communities with consulting resources tailored to help them assess local housing need and develop solutions to catalyze new development.

CommunityScale has partnered with Stantec Urban Places on three technical assistance assignments, performing housing needs assessments for three different communities, each confronting unique market and affordability challenges:

• Middletown, a wealthy community adjacent to Newport where median home prices are nearly five times more expensive than the local median income can afford (see graph above).
• Richmond, a rural community in need of more diverse housing options for local workforce and downsizing seniors.
• Barrington, a suburban town balancing the market pressures of Providence to the north and the destination coastal communities to the south.

Our work with these communities has helped spark public dialogue about housing attainability and informed municipal policies to increase housing production for both low- and middle-income residents.