Providence, R.I.—Today, the House Municipal Government and Housing Committee will hear H 8036, a bill with potential to combat the housing crisis that is currently gripping the state. Known as the ROOM Act, which stands for “Restoring Options in Occupancy Models,” the bill represents a first-of-its-kind type of legislation that removes many barriers to co-living or single-room occupancy (SRO) housing currently enshrined in restrictive zoning ordinances, building codes and occupancy limit laws. The Institute for Justice (IJ), which as part of their mission to promote housing abundance and affordability across the nation, supports the bill and its passage, and will be at the committee to testify in support.
“Housing affordability is a pressing concern across all of Rhode Island right now and people are feeling the pain,” said IJ Legislative Attorney Samuel Hooper, who also wrote the model legislation on which H 8036 was based. “But by passing H 8036, the General Assembly has an opportunity to re-legalize a proven, affordable housing type that could benefit Rhode Islanders who don’t necessarily want the expense of renting an entire house or apartment. And at a time of budget shortfalls, this bill has the potential to bring down housing costs while requiring no government spending or subsidies, which is a win-win for everyone.”
Housing affordability has reached crisis levels in Rhode Island. The bill comes as recent data by Realtor.com has revealed that Rhode Island has no affordable metros left for either homebuyers or renters due to construction and zoning hurdles.
In total, the report noted that all eight of Rhode Island’s cities—which includes Providence, Warwick, Cranston, Pawtucket, East Providence, Woonsocket, Newport, and Central Falls—are now unaffordable for average earners.
The ROOM Act would remove several barriers to allow for streamlining construction of new units or the conversion of current buildings into modern co-living housing, helping provide a valuable tool in bringing affordability back to Rhode Island communities.
Co-living or single-room occupancy allows people to rent individual, lockable bedrooms in a building, while sharing communal facilities like kitchens and bathrooms with other tenants. This can be as simple as a homeowner renting a spare bedroom in their single-family house, or as complex as large-scale, premium co-living buildings for young professionals, located in converted former downtown office buildings. It has the potential to unlock millions of currently unused or underused bedrooms for lawful occupation nationwide over time, easing an acute housing shortage while maintaining legitimate safety regulations
Single-room occupancy was a standard fixture in many cities around the nation, but was aggressively and deliberately phased out by local governments in the mid-20th century, often during counterproductive efforts at urban renewal. This caused immense harm to people who couldn’t upgrade to a full-sized apartment or house, particularly in expensive cities such as New York or Chicago. People were displaced in large numbers, and the modern homelessness crisis was born.
IJ remains committed to finding ways to end obstructive zoning practices and making housing affordable for everyone. Through IJ’s Zoning Justice Project, the institute works to protect and promote the freedom to use property. For more than a century, the freedom to use property has been eroded through abusive zoning practices that disregard individual liberty and emphasize top-down planning over property rights. Those property rights have been further denigrated by the courts, where property owners have found little comfort from all but the most abusive zoning practices.
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To arrange interviews on this subject, journalists may contact Phillip Suderman, IJ’s Communications Project Manager, at [email protected] or (850) 376-4110. More information on the case is available at: https://ij.org/issues/zoning-justice/housing-abundance-and-affordability/