Rhode Island has made important progress in expanding housing supply through bonds, zoning reform, and production incentives, resulting in the construction of new and preservation of existing long-term affordable homes. Yet for many households with the lowest incomes, new housing alone does not solve the affordability gap.

Today, Rhode Island faces a shortage of more than 23,000 rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income households (NLIHC, 2025), and more than 70% of extremely low-income renters are cost-burdened (HousingWorks RI, 2025). The result is visible in every community: longer shelter stays, increased housing instability, and more people forced into unsafe or unsheltered situations.

H7803 and S2681 create a practical and proven tool to address this challenge by establishing a state rental subsidy that can be paired with housing production and resources to create deeply affordable homes. By ensuring eligible households pay no more than 30% of income toward rent, the program would help bridge the gap between extremely low household incomes and the actual cost of operating quality housing.