The Newport Heights development will receive nearly $4 million to preserve and rehabilitate its 81 units as part of a $72 million statewide housing award announced Thursday by Gov. Dan McKee’s administration.
The $3,979,584 award to Trinity Newport for Newport Heights Phase I is the only Newport County project among seven developments funded in the first wave of the state’s latest consolidated funding round. The development, originally built in 2003, includes 72 affordable units among its 81 total homes.
Statewide, the round will support the production and preservation of 332 homes, 308 of them affordable. The $72 million approved Thursday includes $31 million in voter-approved bond resources from Rhode Island’s historic housing bond.
“This first round of funding is turning momentum into meaningful results for Rhode Island,” McKee said in a statement. “By putting these resources to work, including significant bond funding from Rhode Island’s historic housing bond, we are creating more affordable homes, strengthening communities, and continuing to build a housing pipeline that meets the needs of Rhode Islanders today and into the future.”
The awards follow the April meeting of the RIHousing Board of Commissioners and represent the first step in deploying more than $113 million made available through the consolidated funding round, which accepted applications from October to December 2025. A second round is expected to open in May, with roughly $40 million available.
“Today’s awards show continued progress in our efforts to expand housing options across Rhode Island,” said Secretary of Housing Deborah Goddard. “They highlight a focused, thoughtful, and strategic approach to putting resources to work where they can have the greatest impact.”
Carol Ventura, CEO and executive director of RIHousing, said the agency was encouraged by the strong interest in the funding round.
“RIHousing continues to bring together multiple funding sources to assist in structuring the complex financing needed to make affordable housing development possible,” Ventura said.
Other projects funded
Beyond the Newport Heights award, the six other funded developments are located in South Kingstown, Pawtucket, Providence and West Warwick. They include the $20.5 million Champagne Heights project in South Kingstown, which will produce 85 new homes; The Paddock Phase I in Pawtucket, a $11.4 million award for 49 affordable homes on a former racetrack site; and a $14.9 million adaptive reuse project at 183 Washington Street in West Warwick that will create 30 permanent supportive housing units in the long-vacant former Ocean State Furniture building.
Providence projects receiving funding include the Residences at 322 Washington, Wunnaunt Apartments in the Mount Hope neighborhood and an adaptive reuse of 55 Pine Street. An additional $3.25 million was also awarded to the previously funded West End III project in Providence.
The awards combine federal and state resources, including federal 9% and 4% Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, State Low-Income Housing Tax Credits, bond funding and gap financing.
