Goodbye rooms, hello apartments: Crossroads RI to replace old residential 'Tower'
The Crossroads Rhode Island "Tower" in Upper South Providence is one of the largest and most visible examples of housing for people facing homelessness and extreme poverty in the state.
It's also a 1former YMCA that its owners say is "obsolete" and unable to meet the needs of people of the nearly 200 people who live there.
Nonprofit Crossroads has a plan to upgrade the "Tower" at 160 Broad St., and the first step is to build a five-story apartment building in an adjacent parking lot to move most of the residents there.
The Providence City Plan Commission approved the design for the new building, which Crossroads estimates will cost $52 million to build, on Tuesday.
"This is truly life-changing for the residents and the city," John Garrahy, a lawyer representing Crossroads told commissioners.
City permitting approval was never really in doubt.
It complied with existing zoning, without variances or special permits, something Plan Commission members said is almost unheard of among large construction projects.
And yet the project is not without controversy.
'Already crowded with poverty'
Although few people in Rhode Island dispute the need for more housing for people in deep poverty, residents of South Providence wonder why so much of it needs to be concentrated in their neighborhood.
In a letter to the Plan Commission, the South Providence Neighborhood Association writes that Crossroads recently took over a building on Pine Street. The association objects to further expansion in the area, warning it may violate the Fair Housing Act.
"This development and those additional plans of Crossroads would reinforce the poverty already existing in out neighborhood and perpetuates the residential segregation that our neighborhood continues to endure because of past ... redlining practices," Association Chairperson Dwayne Keys wrote.
Neighborhood Association member Etienne Kotey told commissioners there have been 209 police calls to the Tower in six months.
"This is where Black and brown people can afford to live, and you are forcing this on us," Kotey said. "you are forcing them into an area that is already crowded with poverty."
Ward 11 City Council member Mary Kay Harris said she was "torn" between her advocacy for low-income housing and the desires of the neighborhood.
"I understand why people are pushing back in the community because they are trying to keep a hold of what they have," Harris told commissioners.
But Crossroads says the status quo is not fair for the 176 people living in the Tower's tiny, single-room occupancy apartments.
And improving the living conditions for the residents of the Tower should make it easier to provide services to those residents and help reduce some of the issues neighbors are concerned about.
'Full, proper apartment' – not a room
"With Crossroads' Summer Street project, we are not adding people to a neighborhood. We are moving people who already living here," said Karen Santilli, Crossroads CEO. "They are registered voters. They pay rent, but unfortunately they are living in ... an 8-by-10 room with no private bathrooms and kitchens.
"We are moving them into a building where they will have a full, proper apartment with bathroom and kitchen that is going to have a huge impact on their quality of life and how they are as a neighbor."
The new building is planned for a Crossroads-owned lot between Summer and Stewart Streets.
It would be 58 feet tall with solar panels on the roof and a main entrance on Stewart Street.
The city has zoned the RIPTA-served area for Transit Oriented Development, so it is not required to have any off-street automobile parking, but Crossroads plans 13 spaces. (It will also have 37 bicycle spaces.)
Santilli said Crossroads hopes to begin construction in the fall, and that it should take about 20 months to complete.
Financing for the new Crossroads building, like most low-income housing, is complicated and relies on some 15 different sources including federal low-income housing tax credits, state affordable housing bond proceeds and loans. Crossroads also hopes to tap some of the state's American Rescue Plan funds.
Community liaison to be hired
In response to neighborhood complaints that it is not responsive to calls and concerns from abutters, Crossroads plans to hire a community liason who will be available to respond to problems.
Asked whether Crossroads considered building a new facility elsewhere in the city, Santilli said that to maintain federal funding, the organization needs to replace all of the apartments being closed in the Tower nearby.
And most of the Tower residents don't want to move, she said.
"They don’t want to live somewhere else. Many of hem have lived here for 10 years," Santilli said. "This is where they want to live."
Once the new Summer Street apartment building is finished, Crossroads plans to renovate the single-room occupancy apartments in the Tower.
The rest of the building will stay open during construction, including16 efficiency apartments, a women's shelter, education facilities, a clinic and 24-hour community room where people can come in off the street.
Plans for the renovated tower call for 80 units instead of 176, meaning the city will end up with more than 90 additional low-income units when everything is done.
panderson@providencejournal.com
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On Twitter: @PatrickAnderso_
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Crossroads wins design OK for full apartments to replace rooms in 'Tower'
