Voters Pass the $120 Million Housing Bond. They Also Reject Two Bonds, the First Defeats Since 2006, Including $100 Million With “No Specific Projects” Named

What happened

These results are unofficial. The Board of Elections has not certified them. Rhode Island Current reports these figures from the board’s unofficial results as of 10:19 p.m. Tuesday:

• Question 1, higher education, $275 million: 59.82% approved.
• Question 2, housing, $120 million: 61.12% approved.
• Question 3, economic development, $100 million: 52.47% rejected.
• Question 4, cultural economy, $50 million: 50.79% rejected.
• Question 5, green economy, $55 million: 66.92% approved.

Ocean State Media, writing shortly after midnight, also had Questions 1, 2 and 5 “on track to pass.” It said Questions 3 and 4 “appeared to be more closely contested as votes continued to be counted.”

The defeats matter beyond the totals. Rhode Island Current calls them “the first time voters in the Ocean State have defeated a bond measure since 2006, when they rejected a $4 million bond for Newport’s Fort Adams.” About the $100 million economic-development bond, the outlet writes: “No specific projects were earmarked for the funding, however.” It also notes the measure “was a scaled-down version of Gov. Dan McKee’s original $115 million proposal.” The $50 million cultural bond would mostly have paid for a State History Center, Secretary of State Gregg Amore’s longstanding goal.

The housing bond and its track record

Question 2 repeats the $120 million housing bond voters approved in 2024. At least $25 million goes to homeownership housing, and up to $10 million can support public housing. Projects are expected to start in 2028, according to Rhode Island Current. The outlet adds that the approval “comes amid scrutiny of the effectiveness of previous state investments in housing.” A May report by the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council “found that $52.2 million in public funding had financed 200 new rental units, for an average development cost of more than $512,000 per unit.” State housing officials disagreed. Housing Secretary Deborah Goddard “said in October that the state’s actual subsidy per unit was much lower.”

Context: the award announced five days before the vote

On Thursday, Oct. 29, McKee announced a $3,239,964 award for Aquidneck Green in Middletown, What’s Up Newp reported. It was the largest award in the round. Marathon Development will build 36 modular three-bedroom homes on town-owned land. That comes to roughly $90,000 in state money per home, our calculation, with sale prices of $353,800 to $399,999. The money came from the 2024 housing bond. The outlet reported that the announcement “came five days before Rhode Island voters decide on a new housing bond, and both McKee and Secretary of Housing Deborah Goddard used the event to campaign for it.” McKee said: “I urge Rhode Islanders to help us keep this momentum going by voting ‘Yes’ on Question 2 on November 3.”