Housing
Affordable Housing and Communities
Lowering housing costs and strengthening communities is a top priority for Senator Reed. That is why he developed creative solutions, like the Housing Trust Fund and the Property Improvement and Manufactured Housing Loan Modernization Act, to ensure affordable homeownership within reach for more families. He successfully championed a new law preventing large institutional investors from outbidding hardworking families for single-family homes. He has also delivered significant federal funding to help Rhode Island increase the supply of affordable housing.
Recognized as a national leader on housing, Senator Reed has written laws to build, preserve, and rehabilitate affordable rental apartments and single-family homes; improve consumer disclosures on mortgages; and address the needs of working families who have struggled with the fallout from the housing crisis. He serves on the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee as well as the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development (THUD).
Senator Reed has also focused on preventing foreclosures, maintaining a stable housing finance system, reducing homelessness, supporting the redevelopment of blighted buildings, cleaning up lead-based paint in homes, weatherizing and retrofitting homes to be more energy efficient, and ensuring healthier, more livable communities.
KEY PRIORITIES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS
- Since 2020, Senator Reed has directed over $3.2 billion to Rhode Island for an array of housing and homelessness prevention efforts, including over $300 million in flexible housing funds that the state is now utilizing to increase the supply of affordable homes, boost homeownership, and reduce homelessness.
- Helped pass the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act to build more housing, lower costs, streamline construction regulations, and curb private equity’s ability to buy up single-family homes and drive up housing prices.
- Wrote and passed legislation that helps families more affordably finance home renovations and improvements and purchase accessible dwelling units for aging parents and children entering adulthood.
- Created the Federal Housing Trust Fund and Capital Magnet Fund, which have delivered $59 million to Rhode Island over the past decade.
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Wrote and passed the Helping More Families Save Act, which helps families living in federally-assisted housing build their savings and achieve greater financial and economic independence.
- Wrote and passed the bipartisan Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. This law simplified and consolidated competitive Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homelessness assistance programs and allowed more funding to flow to communities that demonstrate a commitment to preventing and ending homelessness.
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Reed increased funding to remove lead-based paint from homes, educate families about the dangers of lead poisoning, and train inspectors and workers to identify lead contamination in housing. Senator Reed has helped secure over $50 million for Rhode Island lead poisoning prevention programs.
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