Strategy: Policy, Advocacy, and Systems Reform

People living, working, and raising families in Jamestown are being priced out of the housing market.

“Second and third generation families and our growing elderly population are finding it increasingly difficult to maintain a residence, purchase a home, or even find an affordable rental,” Stephen P. Ostiguy, executive director of Church Community Housing Corporation (CCHC), notes.

“It would take four average Jamestown wage earners to qualify for a mortgage to purchase a median priced home on the island. It would cost the average low-income renter 67 percent and a poverty level family of three 90 percent of their income to rent a two-bedroom apartment there.”

Already one of state’s most celebrated community development corporations, CCHC, in partnership with the town, is working to increase housing options for its low-income residents and special needs populations.  The Foundation awarded CCHC $25,000 to develop Jamestown’s Affordable Housing Strategic Plan.

The Plan will “review the Town’s housing policies, determine how housing needs of the population have changed, and identify and develop strategies for the Town to ensure that the diverse housing needs of residents are met,” said Ostiguy.

Public meetings will enable residents to provide input on potential sites for affordable housing.
Ostiguy is encouraged by the project’s progress to date, noting that the Jamestown Town Council voted recently to request legislation which would permit a transfer tax on certain real estate transactions.

“It’s quite significant for a community to do this,” he states, noting that the funds raised would be divided equally between affordable housing and open space preservation.

This ongoing project has, as its major goal, the community vision identified in Jamestown’s Comprehensive Community Plan, June 2002: “Maintain Jamestown as a diversified community that provides housing for all people regardless of age, income, ethnic origin or ability.”