Testimony by Scott Wolf, Executive Director, Grow Smart Rhode Island,

in Support of Housing Reform Legislation---S3148 and H8475

June 1, 2004

Good afternoon Mr. Chairman and members of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Housing and Municipal Government and the House Corporations Committee. My name is Scott Wolf, and I am the Executive Director of Grow Smart Rhode Island. Grow Smart represents a broad coalition of organizations from the private, public and non-profit sectors that are fighting suburban sprawl and urban decay while advocating equitable, efficient and environmentally friendly economic development.

We are strong advocates for increasing the production of housing that will be affordable to low, moderate and middle-income Rhode Islanders. We are convinced that Rhode Island's housing affordability and supply issues have become so serious that they threaten the future economic vitality and quality of life in our state. We also believe that affordable housing is a critical component of smarter growth. From our perspective, growth can only be smart if it benefits the many, not just the few. Additionally, we view the provision of more affordable, compact housing in urban, town and village centers as a key to revitalizing those centers.

At the same time, we support the principle that each municipality should develop its own pro-active plan to promote housing production to meet a range of needs. To achieve this, communities will need to consider multiple approaches, including zoning for denser residential development and multi-family housing. We believe that each community should determine where and how that denser development will be accommodated in order to protect community character and resources, based on the assumption that any superficial or obstructionist plans would not receive state approval.

I first want to salute Chairs Tassoni and Kennedy, the members of both committees and the Senate Policy Office staff for the hard work that has made this hearing possible. If, back in March, you had asked many of us here today whether we thought a viable piece of comprehensive housing legislation could be produced in a two-month period, I think most of us would have been pessimistic about the chances. But thanks to your commitment, we do indeed have viable legislation.

And I am here today to support this legislation as encapsulated in twin bills House 8475 and Senate 3148. This legislation provides the kind of  balanced, comprehensive, long-range approach the state needs to systematically and effectively increase access to housing opportunity for people across the income spectrum. Specifically:

o It reinforces the important principle that all communities should do their share to meet the state's housing needs. 

o It requires the 29 communities that have not reached the 10% subsidized unit goal or the rental unit alternative to create affordable housing plans by December 31, 2004. This reinforces the momentum that can already be seen in at least 26 of those communities around the state.

o The legislation encourages communities to define appropriate sites for compact affordable housing, a critical means of  ensuring that providing more affordable housing becomes a tool to fight sprawl rather than a cause of additional sprawl.

o It calls for Statewide Planning and the Housing Resources Commission to develop a 5-year strategic housing plan by July, 2006. Since this strategic plan will look at the whole state, it will include the urban communities, and we believe that this is key to housing production. The urban communities tend to have the kind of infrastructure and access to public transportation that are conducive to compact and affordable development -- it is very important that they along with more suburban and rural communities develop their own plans to help address housing needs. That is why we are pleased that the legislation calls for all 39 cities and towns, with no exceptions, to develop local housing plans, beginning in 2006, that will be compatible with the state’s 5-year strategic plan.

o While the legislation recognizes the need to maintain involvement by the for-profit community in the provision of affordable housing, it responds to the very legitimate concerns of the many communities who have been frustrated by the size, density and proposed siting of many of the for-profit applications and who feel that their local control has been taken away.

o The legislation establishes a Housing and Conservation Trust Fund Study Commission to explore activating this potential long term funding source for our critical affordable housing and land conservation needs.

There are two areas in the legislation that we believe should be revised:

o The legislation stipulates that mandatory inclusionary zoning ordinances must provide that 25% of the units will be affordable. We believe that this is probably too high a percentage to be workable, based on percentages used around the country, and on the fact that inclusionary zoning developments must often rely on internal developer subsidies to produce affordable units. We recommend that the legislation leave it to the individual community to determine the appropriate percentage for inclusionary zoning, with the stipulation that no community’s percentage be lower than 10%.

o The legislation only addresses the issue of infeasibility as it relates to non-profit developers. We strongly recommend that definitions be provided for infeasibility for both non-profit developers and for-profit developers.

Finally, resources for implementation are not addressed in this Act. The work that the legislation mandates can only be accomplished successfully if the necessary resources are made available for plan review, training and technical assistance.

This legislation represents compromise on all sides, but it is balanced in its compromises. We therefore believe that it deserves support from all sides, with the understanding that you will continue to review carefully suggestions for final revisions and improvements such as those we’ve offered today.

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Scott Wolf, Executive Director

Grow Smart Rhode Island