Affordable housing has been a hot topic in Rhode Island during the past few years, drawing attention

for its impact on everything from individual families to the state’s economy.

The first significant response came in 2004, when the General Assembly adopted a new Low and

Moderate Income Housing Act that required 29 towns, as well as the state, to prepare plans showing

how they will encourage developers to build affordable housing.

State Ballot Question 9, an outgrowth of the recently adopted state plan, asks voters to do their

part by supporting a $50-million affordable housing bond.

Backers say the money would leverage some $450 million in additional federal and state subsidies,

private loans and waivers from local communities, producing up to 2,000 affordable apartments and

houses over the next four years.

“This will allow communities to put the sticks in the ground,’’ said Ari Matusiak, director of

HousingWorks RI, a coalition of more than 100 businesses, housing advocates, developers and

philanthropic organizations that supports Question 9. “This is about cities and towns implementing

those affordable housing plans and making those plans a reality.’’

If approved, the bond package would provide $12.5 million a year for four years, with $40 million

going toward production of affordable apartments and $10 million toward owner-occupied condominiums

and houses. The new units would be created with a mix of new construction and renovation of existing

structures.

Developers would apply to the state Housing Resources Commission, which would oversee a competitive

process that awards the money to the best proposals. The apartments and houses would be available to

people making 80 to 120 percent of the median income, or about $30,000 to $60,000 a year.

In a state where the recent run-up in housing prices means that even a $75,000 household income buys

a median-priced house in just three communities, according to a recent HousingWorks RI report, that

fills a big void, Matusiak said.

“This is really targeted at the average wage earner in the state. It’s very much about creating

opportunities that have dried up with the escalation in prices over the last five years,’’ he said.

Housing is generally considered affordable when a household spends no more than 30 percent of its

gross income on the rent or the mortgage, taxes and insurance. To be affordable in Rhode Island, a

housing unit must also rent or sell at a below-market price, made possible with a government subsidy

that helped cover the cost of creating the unit.

The low-mod act calls for 10 percent of each community’s housing to meet the state definition of

affordable, but only five communities — Central Falls, East Providence, Newport, Providence and

Woonsocket — are above the 10-percent threshold. The recently approved state affordable housing plan

aims to make up a quarter of that deficit, producing nearly 5,000 units, including those that would

be created with bond money and the money it leverages.

The bond package would cost $87.1 million over 20 years, assuming a 6-percent interest rate,

according to state figures. It has backing in many quarters, including Governor Carcieri and his

Democratic challenger Lt. Gov. Charles Fogarty. But not everyone supports it.

Some see it as expanding on a flawed law — the low-mod act — that takes an arbitrary,

one-size-fits-all approach with its 10-percent requirement.

It has rural communities facing the same goal as urban ones, even as five urban and urban ring

communities — Cranston, North Providence, Pawtucket, Warwick and West Warwick — are exempt from the

10-percent goal because they have high percentages of affordable rental units.

“If you ever needed an example that the law is not about solving the low and moderate income housing

crisis, that exception proves it,’’ said Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Coventry. “A lot of people think,

when you look at that exception, that this is nothing more than a way to force development on

communities that have tried to stay rural.’’

The recently adopted state affordable housing plan acknowledges this exception and recommends that

the General Assembly make all communities subject to the 10-percent requirement.

Others say the bond package furthers the notion that housing must have a government subsidy to be

affordable. Richard Poirier, president of the Smithfield Town Council, said this mentality ignores

ordinary housing that is affordable and moves the country in a socialist direction.

Poirier put a resolution on the agenda of this week’s Town Council meeting, urging residents to vote

no on Question 9, but the council tabled the measure after housing advocates at the meeting said

they opposed it.