Do Rhode Islanders support bills to make it easier to build housing? What a new poll shows I Providence Journal

PROVIDENCE – In a sign that "Yes-In-My-Backyard" housing politics have gone mainstream, even Rhode Island now has a nonprofit lobbying exclusively for pro-development land use reform.

Neighbors Welcome! Rhode Island on Tuesday held its first State House rally to promote a set of bills that would make it easier to build homes on smaller lots, allow homes in commercial areas and free small apartment buildings from commercial code requirements.

This latest slate of housing legislation debuted a few weeks after House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi released his dozen-bill package of home affordability legislation, some of which overlaps with the Neighbors Welcome bills.

And the news conference began minutes after an event touting a slate of tenant protection bills.