The newly appointed special legislative commission to study the Rhode Island Low and Moderate Income Housing Act is scheduled to hold its first meeting Tuesday.
The commission is to study barriers to affordable housing creation and identify ways to help cities and towns meet their obligations under the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act to ensure that at least 10 percent of their housing stock qualifies as affordable.
The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 27, at 2 p.m. in Room 101 on the first floor of the State House. The meeting will be live-streamed at http://rilegislature.gov/CapTV/Pages/default.aspx and televised on Capitol Television, which can be seen on Cox Channels 15, and 61, in high definition on Cox Channel 1061, on Full Channel on Channel 15 and on Channel 34 by Verizon subscribers.
The organizational meeting will include the election of a chairperson and a vice-chairperson, introductions, and a reading of the resolution (2021-H 5953A) that created the commission. No public testimony will be accepted at this meeting.
That resolution was sponsored by Rep. June S. Speakman (D-Dist. 68, Warren, Bristol), who was appointed to the commission by House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi along with Rep. Anastasia P. Williams (D-Dist. 9, Providence), Rep. Michael W. Chippendale (R-Dist. 40, Foster, Glocester, Coventry), Rhode Island Foundation President and CEO Neil Steinberg, ONE Neighborhood Builders President and Executive Director Jennifer Hawkins, Grow Smart Rhode Island Executive Director Scott Wolf, Pawtucket Central Falls Development Corporation Executive Director Linda Weisinger, Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness Executive Director Caitlin Frumerie, Rhode Island Association of Realtors Government Affairs Director David Salvatore, Rhode Island Builders Vice President David Caldwell, Housing Network of Rhode Island/Community Housing Land Trust of Rhode Island Executive Director Melina Lodge, Rhode Island Housing Executive Director Carol Ventura, Robert Marshall of the Rhode Island Developmental Disabilities Council, Glocester Town Planner Karen Scott, Providence Department of Planning Director Community Development Emily Freedman, Barrington Tax Assessor Ken Mallette and Jongsung Kim of the Bryant University Department of Economics.