ProJo: Special committee studying plight of the homeless convenes

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The city's newly created special committee to study homelessness gathered Wednesday night in the first of several meetings aimed at assessing the scope of Providence's homelessness problem.

Megan Smith, program manager at the House of Hope, and Brenda Clement, the director of Housing Works RI, told the committee, and others gathered, about the boundaries for accessing housing in Rhode Island in general, and Providence specifically.

Clement focused on the lack of affordable housing and where the state stands among its neighbors in New England. In fiscal year 2016, Rhode Island spends $8.46 per capita on affordable housing investments.

This is remarkably lower than investments across New England. In the same time period, Massachusetts spent $99.72 per capita, Connecticut spent $76.98 per capita, Vermont spent $52.49 per capita, and Maine spent $18.03 per capita, according to data provided by Clement.

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Courtesy of Providence Journal