What are new RI Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor's big ideas on housing in the Ocean state?

California did it. Massachusetts and Connecticut are trying. But new Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor isn't ready to say whether Rhode Island should try to compel cities and towns to allow more housing to be built.

In a wide-ranging interview on housing issues, Pryor said Rhode Island's lowest-in-the-nation new housing construction is a problem and major contributor to the state's housing affordability crisis.

But despite efforts by some communities and state lawmakers to head off statewide housing reforms before they launch, Pryor believes most local leaders genuinely want to build more housing — of some type, somewhere — to make it easier for residents to find a place to live. Last week he met with 25 local leaders to talk housing policy.

"There are barriers pertaining to the land-use processes as they're currently constructed, and we are already in a positive and healthy dialogue with the [League of Cities and Towns] and its constituent towns regarding that," he said.

Still, he said, the McKee administration, which has long championed local decision-making, is not taking more sweeping reforms off the table and he isn't under any instructions to avoid ideas that meet municipal resistance.

More:Woonsocket's blight fund tore down 30 buildings, but left vacant lots. Is it the best way?

"The only instructions I'm under are to create an effective system for the production of housing, inclusive of affordable housing, in our state," he said. "What I am trying to just convey to you is that there is high interest among many towns in doing more regarding housing. So it's important to at least in part begin the conversation with how we can ally ourselves with municipalities that, to their credit, are aiming to produce more housing."

In uncertain times, Rhode Islanders look to familiar faces, and in the housing world these are uncertain times. Shelter has never been so expensive. The state has never spent so much to make homes available. And the House of Representatives is working on a package of housing legislation, expected to be unveiled soon, that could bring big changes to what gets built.

Enter Pryor, whose new office is just down the hall from the office he occupied for the better part of eight years as commerce secretary.

Pryor became the state's second ever housing secretary after the first, a fresh face from New York City, failed to convince key political and industry leaders he was up for the challenge.

Before he ran unsuccessfully for treasurer last year, Pryor helped develop the McKee administration's plan to spend a large chunk of Rhode Island's federal pandemic aid windfall on housing programs. And he's worked for years with the private organizations that will distribute and ultimately spend the money, giving lawmakers confidence it won't go unused.

More:Political Scene: How a Maryland public housing program could influence Rhode Island

What are Pryor's big ideas on housing?

Pryor delights in the fine print of public policy, so it is not surprising his prescription on housing, as much as he is ready to share it, is nuanced.

On the homelessness crisis, Pryor wants to prevent the "market tightness," that leads to evictions; improve behavioral health and substance abuse care; expand access to legal services for those facing eviction and invest in "permanent supportive housing for our most vulnerable residents"

The state is already working on these things on some level, but he said more can be done.

It has not been actively looking to turn underutilized office or commercial space into housing, but Pryor said that might be the future.

"The world is shifting towards hybrid live work environments," he said. "Rhode Island has the potential to pioneer high quality live-work scenarios that, if undertaken in key corridors in our state, can revitalize main streets, bring new life to commercial office spaces, and provide new housing opportunities. If we take a look at the old fashioned outmoded office space that exists above retail in some of our main street stretches, there may be opportunities for housing conversion."

Asked what the biggest barrier to converting old commercial space into housing is, he said: regulation, financing and lack of local planning capacity are all problems.

More:Pioneer tenants organized against their landlord. Now they say they're being pushed out

Where is the $250M for housing?

Of the $1.1 billion Rhode Island got from the American Rescue Plan, the $250 million budgeted for housing programs is more than in any other policy area, so it is no surprise many eyes are focused on what happens to that money.

But housing development moves at a pace usually measured in years, so putting that money to use has taken longer than some expected.

And the vast majority of it — $195 million — is being distributed by quasi-state Rhode Island Housing, not the state itself. A big chunk of the non-Rhode Island Housing money is going toward assistance and facilities to combat homelessness.

Rhode Island Housing has awarded $29.1 million of that total to various end users, and around $11 million has been spent, according to a presentation from the agency last month to a House commission studying affordable housing laws.

Further complicating the accounting, around half the $250 million was budgeted for next fiscal year and beyond.

Rhode Island Housing Chief Strategy Officer Christine Hunsinger said Tuesday that most of the remaining money will be awarded in April and May.

One chunk of the $250 million the state will distribute itself is $10 million for traditional public housing.

Pryor had no update Tuesday about where that money might be headed, when it will be awarded or who has applied to use it.

More:Did Rhode Island's real estate market cool off in 2022? Here's what the numbers show.

Who is calling the shots?

Shortly before he came under fire, Saal proposed consolidating housing authority within the Office of Housing, including bringing the 28-member Housing Resources Commission under his control.

Pryor, who is working on his own statewide housing plan, on Tuesday declined to say whether he agrees with Saal's reorganization proposals or if he wants to absorb the Housing Resources Commission. He did say Saal's November recommendation is not being thrown out.

When he hired Pryor, McKee appointed him chairman of the Rhode Island Housing Board of Commissioners pending Senate confirmation. Saal was one of seven members of the board, but was never made chairman.

What happens when warming stations close?

Faced with a large number of people living on the street and criticism of his handling of a tent encampment at the State House, McKee this winter turned the Cranston Street Armory into a temporary "warming station" shelter.

Between 180 and 200 people are sleeping in the Armory on a nightly basis, many more than the 50 originally envisioned, so McKee recently asked shelter providers for proposals to open more warming stations.

And the Armory is slated to close April 15. The administration has not said where the people staying there now are expected to go.

"We are evaluating all options right now," Pryor said when asked if those people will return to the street. "There are multiple ideas, just not ones that I'm fully prepared to share today. But among our highest priorities is ensuring that across the multiple facilities with April 15th ramp downs or deadlines we have transition plans."

He said the state is still looking at the use of temporary "pallet shelters," but would not elaborate.

The state still hopes Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket can be reopened as a shelter once uncertainty about its private ownership is resolved.

Whither the Fane Tower?

Pryor was Commerce Secretary during the years of debate over the proposed 46-story Fane Tower apartment building in downtown Providence, which has languished unbuilt since being first proposed in 2016.

Is it time to pull the plug?

"It is crucial that the I-195 Commission determine whether the Fane ownership group is truly capable of carrying out the project," he said. "That is, will the project be fully financed? The worst possible outcome here is a false start where Rhode Island is left with a partially completed structure. That's happened to us before. We cannot let it happen again."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Housing affordability in Rhode Island top on Stefan Pryor's priorities