Six days before Rhode Island voters decide on a new housing bond, the research group HousingWorks RI has released a report tallying what the state’s previous housing bonds have paid for — including the preservation of Newport Heights and the conversion of a former commercial building in downtown Jamestown.
The report, “Rhode Island’s Housing Bonds: Years of Accomplishments,” says five voter-approved bonds since 2006 have helped develop or preserve roughly 5,600 homes of all types across 33 of the state’s 39 cities and towns. About 84% are affordable housing; the rest are middle-income rentals and market-rate homes.
HousingWorks RI, based at Roger Williams University, supports passage of the housing bond on Tuesday’s ballot, and the report argues a new bond is needed to keep projects moving.
Two Newport County projects
The report describes Newport Heights — the 81 rental homes across 30 buildings in Newport’s North End, first built in 2003 — as being preserved with its affordability extended. What’sUpNewp reported in April that the development was awarded nearly $4 million for rehabilitation in the state’s most recent housing award round.
In Jamestown, the report says Hammett Court transformed a former commercial building downtown into 12 affordable, accessible apartments.
What the bonds have funded
The two most recent bonds — Building Homes RI, approved in 2021, and Housing 2030, approved in 2024 — together supported more than 1,600 affordable homes and middle-income rentals and drew more than $860 million from other public and private sources, according to the report. HousingWorks RI estimates the two created about 2,600 construction jobs.
The 2021 bond was fully committed by mid-2024. Of the $120 million available through Housing 2030, nearly $103 million had been committed as of August 2026, the report says.
Housing 2030 money has gone to more than 1,600 new and preserved homes across 43 developments, about a third of them in existing buildings; home repair assistance for more than 190 income-eligible households; the conversion of three blighted properties; and 16 site acquisition, predevelopment or infrastructure projects the group expects to yield hundreds more units.
Other projects cited include the Millrace District in Woonsocket, where three mill buildings became 70 homes — a project that won a Rhody Award for historic preservation this week — and mixed-income rental developments in Providence.
New law school partnership
HousingWorks RI also announced a partnership with Roger Williams University School of Law at its Housing Fact Book release event on Friday, Oct. 23. Founded in 2004, the organization has been affiliated with RWU since 2014.
“We look forward to working even more closely with our law school colleagues and students to address housing affordability challenges,” said Brenda Clement, the group’s executive director, citing continued work with RWU’s architecture, real estate and construction management programs.
Both the bond report and the 2026 Housing Fact Book are available on the organization’s website.
