Smiley Vetoes Rent Control, Landlords Support Move, Morales Blasts Him, Headed for Override Vote

Smiley Vetoes Rent Control, Landlords Support Move, Morales Blasts Him, Headed for Override Vote

It is another day in the battle over the effort to implement rent control in Providence.

After Thursday night’s second passage of the ordinance for a 4% annual cap on rents, Friday morning, Providence Mayor Brett Smiley vetoed the ordinance.

This sets up yet another showdown on the legislation as the Council is expected to try to override the Mayor.

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The Providence City Council has 15 members, and to override a veto, ten votes are needed.

To date, supporters have nine council votes for the new policy.

 

Smiley’s Rationale

Smiley said in his veto message, “Too many Providence residents are feeling the strain of rising rents and limited housing options, and addressing this challenge remains central to our work. That urgency requires solutions that are proven to work and built to last.”

“Rent control does not meet that standard. Based on available data and the experience of other municipalities, policies of this kind do not lower rents and often lead to higher costs and diminishing housing stock across the market over time,” Smiley wrote. “They can discourage new housing development, constrain supply, and ultimately make it harder for the very neighbors they are intended to help. In Providence, this ordinance would also shift the tax burden onto single-family homeowners, placing additional pressure on working families and small property owners while still exempting about half of our rental units from the policy.”

The property owners said in a statement via Shannon Weinstein, Director of the Rhode Island Coalition of Housing Providers, “Providence residents need real solutions to rising housing costs. Rent control prevents real solutions from moving forward.”

 

Morales Blasts Smiley

Providence mayoral candidate and State Representative David Morales said in a statement, “The Mayor is out of touch with the people he was elected to serve. It is clear from his actions that he has no empathy for the working people in Providence who are struggling with skyrocketing rents. Under his leadership, Providence has become the least affordable city in America for renters. This legislation has overwhelming public support, with multiple polls showing that the majority of residents in both Providence and Rhode Island expect local government to be responsive to the challenges they face. Time and again, the Mayor has proven he serves one constituency: the corporate donors who fund his campaign.”

Further, Morales challenges councilors who have opposed the effort to revisit their votes. “I’m calling on councilmembers who voted against this bill to change their votes when the bill is returned to the council for a veto override vote. These councilmembers were elected to serve the residents of their wards who are grappling with the affordability crisis, not the Mayor’s campaign donors,” added Morales.

The next and final step in the legislative machinations is a vote to override.

If ten councils vote aye, Smiley’s veto is overridden. Anything less and the ordinance is dead.

The vote has yet to be scheduled.