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7/1/2025
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New law encourages townhome development as affordable homeownership option
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STATE HOUSE – Newly enacted legislation sponsored by Sen. Meghan E. Kallman and Rep. June S. Speakman will encourage the development of attached single family homes, such as townhomes, which can offer more affordable opportunities in Rhode Island’s housing market.
“Rhode Island desperately needs more housing units, and we need the kinds of homes that people can actually afford. That means we need to encourage smaller, less-expensive alternatives like townhomes. With options like townhomes and similar attached dwellings, families, seniors and singles looking for starter homes will be able to achieve homeownership,” said Representative Speakman (D-Dist. 68, Warren, Bristol), who chairs the House Commission on Housing Affordability.
Said Senator Kallman (D-Dist. 15, Pawtucket, Providence), “We have to be open-minded about allowing a variety of styles of homes if we are going to make headway addressing a housing crisis as immense as ours. Townhomes have a number of advantages for our communities. They offer an affordable path to homeownership as well as a way to remain in the community if you’d like to downsize. They are compact, so they can create more units without the kind of excessive sprawl that has eaten away at our state’s farmland and woods. This is one of a number of common-sense development proposals that we should embrace to achieve our goals of creating not only homes for every Rhode Islander, but affordable, livable, vibrant neighborhoods.”
The bill (2025-H 5798Aaa, 2025-S 1083A), which was developed based on feedback from housing advocates and financial institutions about the demand for lower-cost home ownership opportunities, encourages municipalities to allow such units where the structures share a party wall and a lot line, but are on independent lots. The individual lots would not need to have frontage on a roadway, as long as the development as a whole has suitable frontage. Off-street parking, lot access and other amenities may be provided off the individual lots through a homeowners’ association or other form of common ownership arrangement.
The legislation permits this type of unit only where zoning already allows the same density in a vertical style, by way of tenement or other two-, three-, or multi-family structures, so it does not force communities to accept any increase in density that they haven’t already permitted in the area.
The legislation was approved by lawmakers June 21, signed into law Friday and takes effect Jan. 1.
House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi included the bill in the package of housing bills he backed this legislative session, and it was also identified as a legislative priority for Neighbors Welcome! RI, a grassroots network of neighbors advocating for reforms that help Rhode Islanders to build more homes, researches how a strong and sustainable housing market can improve residents’ quality of life, and supports residents advocating for more homes in their city or town.
For more information, contact:
Meredyth R. Whitty, Publicist
State House Room 20
Providence, RI 02903
(401) 222-1923
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