Five affordable housing projects around Rhode Island will receive a combined $2.88 million boost in funding, Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank and the Department of Housing announced today.
The funding, which comes from the Municipal Infrastructure Grant Program and Housing Infrastructure Grant Awards program, will support projects in Coventry, East Providence, Providence, West Warwick, and Pawtucket.
The announcement was made at the future site of the RISE Pawtucket Apartments, a 177-unit development in Pawtucket that will receive $1.2 million of the funding. Governor Dan McKee was joined by state and local officials, including Representative Cheri Cruz, Senator Robert Britto, Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien, Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank Executive Director William Fazioli, and interim Secretary of the RI Department of Housing Dan Connors, to stress the importance of affordable housing and the role of these infrastructure improvements in helping address the state’s housing crisis.
The funding will support a variety of infrastructure improvements, including green infrastructure, stormwater management, sidewalks, and wastewater utilities. According to William Fazioli, Executive Director of Rhode Island Infrastructure Bank, these improvements are essential to making way for new housing developments.
Besides Pawtucket, West Warwick ($208,930), East Providence ($480,188), Providence ($240,000), and Coventry ($726,882) also received funding. The projects in these towns range from the renovation of a historic mill to the development of a mixed-use affordable housing complex. These $2.8 million in Housing Infrastructure Grant Program awards will bring these five projects closer to reality and to our goal of building more affordable housing across Rhode Island, said interim Rhode Island Housing Secretary Daniel Connors.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.
