Providence agency allocates $3.4 million for three housing projects

The Providence Redevelopment Agency approved roughly $3.4 million from the city’s Housing Trust Fund for three housing developments in South Providence, Mount Hope and the West End at its July 15, 2026, meeting.

The awards direct remaining trust-fund money to projects totaling 216 planned units. The largest allocation is tied to The Willard, a proposed 160-unit development at 251 Blackstone Street. The project is expected to include 102 affordable units and has an estimated total cost of $67.9 million.

The city’s action comes as Providence prepares to seek a much larger source of housing money. City officials plan to propose a $25 million housing bond in November to replenish the Housing Trust Fund. That bond remains a proposal and would still need to be approved before the money becomes available.

Three neighborhood projects

The Willard, in South Providence, received $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds and $900,000 in bond money through the allocations approved July 15. The project is associated with Marathon Construction.

In Mount Hope, a 12-unit apartment building on Camp Street received $500,000. The award is directed to the apartment project, but the available public details do not identify a separate affordable-unit count for it.

A 44-unit mixed-use development on Elmwood Avenue in the West End received $1 million. The project’s award brings the total planned units across the three developments to 216, although the documented affordability figure applies specifically to The Willard rather than to all three projects.

The projects are at different locations and have different sizes, costs and funding arrangements. Together, the awards use approximately $3.4 million in remaining Housing Trust Fund money for development in three Providence neighborhoods.

Bond proposal would replenish trust fund

The planned November bond proposal would be more than seven times the size of the awards approved at the July meeting. Its proposed amount is $25 million, compared with approximately $3.4 million allocated to the three current projects.

The bond has not been approved by voters or fully enacted. Its outcome will determine whether the city can replenish the trust fund with the proposed amount after the latest awards are made.

The city’s adopted fiscal year 2027 ordinance book lists adopted city revenues of $635,828,389, providing the broader municipal budget context for the housing allocations and the proposed borrowing.

The July approvals establish funding commitments for the three developments, but they do not mean the projects are complete. Public details tied to the action do not provide construction-start dates for all three projects, so the next construction milestones remain project-specific.

For Providence residents, the immediate development is the allocation of scarce housing funds to projects in three neighborhoods. The larger policy question will come in November, when the city plans to put forward the proposed $25 million bond to rebuild the fund used for future housing investments.