PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Mayor Brett Smiley stood outside a newly opened affordable housing complex Thursday to ask Providence voters to approve Question 6, a $25 million borrowing plan for the city’s housing trust fund that appears on the Nov. 3 ballot.
If approved, the measure lets the city sell up to $25 million in general obligation bonds, with the money going to affordable multifamily housing projects. A simple majority is enough to pass it. The question reached the ballot through an act of the General Assembly, sponsored by state Sen. Jake Bissaillon.
Smiley held the event at Summer Street Apartments, a 176-unit affordable development built by Crossroads Rhode Island with a mix of city, state, federal and private money. He was joined by Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos, City Council President Rachel Miller, state Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard and housing advocates.
The mayor said close to 1,000 homes were finished in Providence last fiscal year, and roughly 40 percent of them were affordable. According to city figures, the trust fund has put more than $58.7 million to work so far, and that money supports upward of 1,700 affordable homes with deed restrictions that keep rents in reach. Question 6 would refill that fund.
Supporters also pushed Question 2, a separate statewide bond that would put $120 million toward housing and community development projects in every corner of the state. They argued the city and state money would work together to close financing gaps that stall projects.
Most Rhode Island polling places open at 7 a.m. and close statewide at 8 p.m. on Election Day.
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