Housing in our community

Affordable Housing Resources

Below is a list of resources to access affordable housing in our region. At this time, the need for affordable housing far outweighs the availability, so these resources will provide a starting point for interested income-qualifying individuals and families, but the reality is that accessing housing may take quite some time.

  • We will soon be compiling a waitlist for affordable housing options developed or managed by the Little Compton Housing Trust. This waitlist is not yet active, but if you would like to be notified when it does become active, please join our mailing list.

  • 176 Willow Ave is a privately managed affordable multi-unit rental property in Little Compton managed by 176 Willow Ave LLC, for information on available rentals and their waitlist, contact Cari@arkinscorp.com

    The Church Community Housing Corporation develops and manages affordable rentals and homeownership opportunities in Newport County. To learn more about their opportunities, including their homebuyer education courses, and property waitlists, sign up for their mailing list, call (401) 846-5114, or email info@cchcnewport.org.

  • The state of RI offers a Housing Choice Voucher Program (also known as Section 8.) This program provides qualifying renters with rental vouchers to subsidize a portion of rent to help prevent renters from having to pay more than 40% of their income on rent. This program is managed by the state, and the state has a waitlist for HCVP (Section 8) vouchers. For more information or to get on the waitlist, contact RI Housing’s Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8): 844-459-3699 Section 8 (HCVP) Wait List: 401-443-1618 Landlord Inquiries: 844-459-3699

  • Check the current income table to see if you or your family qualify for Affordable Housing.

    Families with incomes up to 120% Area Median Income (AMI) may qualify (for a family of four that is $134,880)

  • Baycoast Bank

    RI Housing

Community Resources

Some resources for support in our community:

Image “Tomatoes” by Claudia McNeil

Housing needs in our community

Who does Affordable Housing serve?

Traditional Affordable Housing, also sometimes known as low to moderate income housing, workforce housing, senior housing, or community housing is housing that is designated and deed restricted for community members within certain income brackets. Sometimes Affordable Housing has additional preferences to serve specific communities such as Senior/Disability Housing, Workforce, or Family housing.

The Federal and State Governments use an income calculation based on percent of “Area Median Income” (or AMI.) Some Affordable Housing projects will be designated for specific lower income qualifiers, but generally the programs are available for individuals and families making up to 120% AMI. The AMI changes every year, based on the calculations of the income of surrounding communities, and is adjusted for family size.

Please see the table below to assess qualifying incomes for 2024:

In 2024, the Housing trust researched publicly available salary data for our community and found that Affordable Housing has the potential capacity to serve a large number of essential working community members of Little Compton. We compiled a helpful document of local and state salary data which shows that many workers in our local essential occupations including teachers, town employees, first responders, farmers, carpenters, service workers, etc. could likely qualify for housing programs.

More research is needed to assess the potential impact for seniors and those with disabilities, but through anecdotal evidence and observing local trends, we expect that a significant number of local seniors on fixed incomes would likely also be eligible.

That data is available for download by clicking this link.

Data was presented in a slide presentation at the October 2024 Commons Foundation community meeting. The presentation was video recorded.

A Broader picture: HousingWorks RI Study

Some Key Takeaways

In 2022, The Little Compton Housing Trust received a report from the study we commissioned from HousingWorks RI to study the needs, opportunities, and attitudes about housing in our community.

The study included an analysis of census data, real-estate data, interviews with key stakeholders, and a community survey which was disseminated to every household and business in Little Compton, and received a robust response.

Click here to view the full presentation that was given to the Town Council
Click here to read the full report from HousingWorks
Click here to read a summary of the stakeholder interviews
Click here to read the survey results