Advocacy Alert! Write to Support Legislation Improving RI's Historic Tax Credit Program
- acosta727
- 20 hours ago
- 2 min read
Rhode Island’s Historic Tax Credits are a proven tool to create more housing stock—from 2013 to 2024 approximately 20% of all new housing comes through the program, including 20% of all affordable housing. But unlike neighboring states which are expanding their programs to address their housing crises, Rhode Island’s Historic Tax Credit program has been stymied through lack of funding, onerous fees, and a lack of transparency. Just when the program is needed most, and elected officials are focused on fixing the housing crisis, a critical housing and community development program is left broken and out of funding.
We are building on our success in 2025 to fix this vital program. Thank you to everyone who supported our initiative to fix the tax credit program in 2025! With hundreds signing our petition, we tackled one of the largest barriers; addressing prevailing wage by raising the threshold for projects from $10 million to $25 million in total hard costs. We could not have done this without your support, and we hope we can count on you in 2026.
This year, we have worked with legislators to get complimentary bills H8408 and S3151 introduced at the State House. The proposed legislation would:
Increase the tax credit from 20% to 30% for projects that make 80% of total rental area for multi-family housing
Increase the tax credit from 20% to 35% for projects that meet the above housing requirement, but also make 20% of housing units affordable rentals, or 10% sold as affordable housing
Lower the filing fee from 3% to 1% and making the fee refundable upon project completion
Increase transparency of the project queue, allowing developers to better plan financing for projects
Help us get bills H8408 and S3151 passed into law! We have organized a letter writing campaign so you can let your local representatives know how important this legislation is. We are also urging the State House to fund this program – currently both bills do not call for any funding for a program that has been a proven driver of housing creation.
