PRESS STATEMENT – February 2, 2010
Regarding the Governor’s Elimination of the Neighborhood Opportunities Program in the Budget

By Jim Ryczek, Executive Director of the RI Coalition for the Homeless and Brenda Clement, Executive Director of Housing Action Coalition of RI

We are extremely disappointed that the Governor has eliminated from the budget the Neighborhood Opportunities Program (NOP).  NOP is the state’s most critical program for ending homelessness and developing affordable housing for low-income families.

The decision by the Governor to eliminate this crucial program is particularly disheartening since it comes at a time when our state has seen an overflow in the emergency shelter system and the erection of Tent Cities in the streets of Providence. Taking away resources from crucial housing and homeless programs while we are in the midst of a foreclosure, employment and economic crisis will only worsen the problem and increase demand for emergency shelters and affordable housing.

NOP was the first funding from the State of Rhode Island for housing production. It is the one program that enables developers to set rents low enough to serve very low-income households and persons with disabilities. It not only provides capital funding for new construction or rehabilitation, but it also includes operating money to more deeply subsidize rents and ensure that properties are maintained as assets to the communities in which they are located.

NOP is in 26 cities and towns in Rhode Island, and has created 1,127 units of affordable housing in 166 developments. This includes the production of family housing, permanent supportive housing, and homeownership opportunities. These housing units are located at sites that contain a total of 2480 affordable housing units.

NOP helps the economy because NOP projects create jobs and help local communities. For every $1 invested in NOP, $9 in economic activity is leveraged, making this an excellent investment. NOP is needed, now more than ever, to complement federal stimulus monies and provide for Rhode Island’s most vulnerable.

NOP funding has helped many homeless individuals and families move off the street and out of shelters into stable homes; prevented others from becoming homeless in the first place; stretched limited family incomes so that more can be spent on essentials like food and medicine; and helped develop facilities that provide services, like job training, that contribute to productive lives.

For all these reasons, we call on the legislature to reject the cuts to NOP and restore funding to this critical homeless prevention and affordable housing program.