Stefan Pryor speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for Riverside Square in East Providence on April 20, 2023. (Stephen Ide/ONE Neighborhood Builders)
A recent article in Rhode Island Current discusses the 2025 budget request from Rhode Island’s new Housing Secretary Stefan Pryor. The budget includes a variety of corporate incentive programs and has drawn mixed reactions from various stakeholders, including Jennifer Hawkins, President and CEO of ONE Neighborhood Builders.
Pryor’s budget calls for tax-incentive programs, a $100 million five-year capital bond, and more than $13 million in emergency housing assistance.
Hawkins said she appreciates many aspects of Pryor’s budget, but she questioned the strategy of offering incentives to private developers and she believes the $100 million capital bond doesn’t go far enough. She suggested that a $250 million bond would be a more appropriate amount.
In the article Hawkins says that public funds should be primarily directed toward projects that serve the public good.
“But she wasn’t sold on offering tax incentives to private developers, versus nonprofits like ONE Neighborhood.
“ ‘Public dollars need to be directed to projects that have a preponderance of public good,’ Hawkins said. ‘I don’t think market-rate developments need a public subsidy to proceed.’ ”
Jennifer Hawkins, President and CEO of ONE Neighborhood Builders, said she appreciates many aspects of Pryor’s budget,
but she questioned the strategy of offering incentives to private developers and she believes
the $100 million capital bond doesn’t go far enough. (Mike Salerno/Rhode Island Current)
