- [Announcer] Tonight, Rhode Islanders priced out of home ownership.

- Nobody can afford that.

That's a $4,000 mortgage.

- [Announcer] Then life lessons from a Providence centenarian.

- You have to be kind.

- [Announcer] And breaking down the Washington Bridge replacement plan with Ted Mesi.

(bright music) (bright music) Good evening and welcome to Rhode Island PBS Weekly.

I'm Pamela Watts.

- And I'm Anaridis Rodriguez.

We begin with the housing crisis here in the ocean state.

- High rents and even higher costs of buying a home have priced many Rhode Islanders out of the market.

Tonight, producer Isabella Jibilian introduces us to one family struggling to buy a house and an expert who is looking to solve the problem.

- [Isabella Jibilian] For this family of four, dinner time can be a tight squeeze.

- Eat your peaches first because it's still wicked hot, okay?

- The duCharme live in a two bedroom apartment in Coventry, but mom, Cassi remembers when they had a house in town.

- My dining room table that fit like eight, 10 people, I had to downsize.

We borrowed one from my in-laws because we don't have the space for it.

- [Isabella Jibilian] In 2022, her husband Russ had a job opportunity in South Carolina.

So the family sold their house and moved south.

But less than a year later, they missed their Rhode Island roots.

- And so we came home, 'cause this is where everybody is.

This is our family and it's Rhode Island.

We never leave.

Or we do and we always come back.

- [Isabella Jibilian] But coming back wasn't easy.

In that short span of time while they were away, Rhode Island's real estate market had changed dramatically.

- There was nothing.

To find a comparable house that even just has three bedrooms that doesn't need a whole bunch of work is a $500,000 house.

- [Isabella Jibilian] For a year and a half, the duCharmes stayed with family while they looked for a place to live.

- We had to downsize significantly.

So we sit here in like less than 800 square feet.

We have two giant storage units that have the rest of our furniture.

Our kids don't have their own rooms anymore.

Our mortgage was about $1,400 for that house, and now I pay 1,850 a month for 800 square feet apartment.

- [Isabella Jibilian] It's a story happening across the country.

- The average rate on a 30 year fixed just went back over 7% this morning.

- [Isabella Jibilian] For many Americans, buying a home has gotten harder and the problem is much worse here in Rhode Island.

Last quarter, the median sales price for a single family home climbed to $465,000.

About an 80% increase since 2019.

And income hasn't caught up.

In April realtor.com rated Rhode Island the least affordable state to buy a home in the country.

So how did this happen?

- We have a severe housing shortage.

- [Isabella Jibilian] Richard Godfrey teaches at Roger Williams University and has worked in housing for over 50 years.

- Rhode Island has the lowest per capita housing production in the country.

- [Isabella Jibilian] He says there are several reasons why Rhode Island isn't building.

For one, it has less open land for construction.

- We have lots of wetlands.

We're already the second most developed state, and we probably have the most vulnerable coastline of, per square mile.

We also have very strict building codes.

Better fire protection, better storm protection.

All of those things are wonderful from a safety perspective, but they add cost.

- [Isabella Jibilian] But the real problem Godfrey says is that we aren't making efficient use of the land we have developed.

- A lot of cities and towns resist new construction of housing 'cause people don't want more people in their town.

We have land available.

It makes economic sense.

We just don't want to do it.

- [Isabella Jibilian] Godfrey lives on a quiet street in Barrington.

It was built in the 50s and each lot has a fifth of an acre.

- The simple, modest home, it's now outlawed.

- [Isabella Jibilian] Today, Barrington zoning laws require at least half an acre for most new homes, and in the rest of the state, lots usually must be at least an acre.

- Why can't we build more neighborhoods like this?

Because the towns won't let them.

- [Isabella Jibilian] It hasn't always been this way.

Real estate boomed in the 80s.

In 1987, the state issued more than 7,000 building permits, but a shift would happen at the end of the decade.

In 1991, a banking crisis hit the state after $15 million were embezzled from a bank on Atwells Avenue.

Ultimately, 11 local lenders closed.

Meanwhile, in the State House laws were passed that allowed towns to issue stricter zoning codes.

Godfrey says these events sent large developers fleeing.

- Most of these builders moved south and west to where they have fewer zoning restrictions and sort of a hands-off government policy.

So we've had constrained growth really since 1990.

- [Isabella Jibilian] Last year, the state issued about 2,700 building permits, but Richard Godfrey sees opportunities to jumpstart growth.

- This corner here has been vacant for at least 10 years.

It would be a great site for housing.

We've now reached a point where we either have to use our existing land better.

When I say better, the best way to do it is to allow mixed use development on commercial areas.

Imagine this, with two or three stories of apartments above.

People could work in the stores, people could shop in the stores patronize the restaurants, and if they worked in Providence, they could hop on the bus and go to Providence.

We have all of these commercial strips in which residential housing is prohibited.

- [Isabella Jibilian] To him, the challenge is convincing towns to see things his way.

- We have lots of underutilized land that towns want to keep commercial because they see tax rateables there and they don't want children in their schools.

So they outlaw residential uses along these wasted highways.

- But people are making these decisions under the assumption that if more families come in, it's going to be a higher budget for schools and that's going to increase taxes.

- Correct, and that's a fallacy because they used bad math.

They used the average cost of a student in their school as opposed to the marginal cost.

The marginal cost is how much would one more student cost.

And one more student in a school, especially in Rhode Island where we have shrinking school district populations and strain on school budgets would make the school more vibrant.

- [Isabella Jibilian] Some towns also say they don't have enough water or sewer capacity to support more growth.

- When you flip that on its head, they could increase the sewer and water capacity if they wanted to.

- [Isabella Jibilian] Although Godfrey faces pushback at the municipal level, the ideas have a foothold in the State House.

Governor McKee has announced a goal of permitting 15,000 housing units by 2030 and Speaker of the House, Joe Shekarchi introduced 12 bills that would encourage development.

If they pass, Godfrey says it's a step in the right direction, but warns that towns can still block development and that it will take years for the housing stock to increase.

But change can't come soon enough for Cassi duCharme.

- My husband works as much overtime as he can just to make ends meet with everything else.

In order for us to even buy a house, I'm going to have to go back to work full time.

But why am I going to go back to work full time?

Because then I have to pay for daycare because somebody's got to get my kids.

So that second job isn't even helping offset what those costs are going to be.

- [Isabella Jibilian] She faces a daily reminder of the house they once had.

- Funniest story when you drove into the parking lot of the apartment complex that we're in my house is across the street that we sold.

So I get to stare at that house that I bought and sold.

- What do you think of when you see your old house?

- It's really difficult.

You're not supposed to regret decisions you've made.

Like they all make you a better person and they put you in a position to be good where you are and you learn from them.

But it is definitely a difficult thing going, oh, I could still be living in a house.

- This is something that is affecting people across generations.

The age of a first-time home buyer has gone up.

- And then seniors looking to downsize are having trouble finding smaller homes.

Up next, what is a life of service?

Last year, Michelle San Miguel introduced us to a Rhode Island woman who embodies just what that means, even when it wasn't always welcome.

(plays piano) - [Michelle San Miguel] At the age of 100, Bennie Fleming knows by heart all the notes to "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."

(plays piano) A song that much like her own life story embodies hope.

But the life that Fleming's created for herself in Providence is one she says she never could have imagined as a child.

- That's the family home in San Antonio, Texas, which was just sold four years ago.

- [Michelle San Miguel] Growing up in south Texas, Fleming dreamed of being a nurse, but she learned it wouldn't be an easy path for a black woman.

- There were no hospitals in San Antonio that would hire a nurse, a black nurse.

The only thing I could do was private duty, and that was very expensive.

And you're doing private duty for black patients.

So you know, you didn't have a lot of people who could afford a private nurse.

- [Michelle San Miguel] It was 1945, the United States was engulfed in World War II.

- [Narrator] Noble women doing a hard job in serving their country in time of need.

- [Michelle San Miguel] Fleming's friend had joined the U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps and she decided she wanted to do the same.

- I got on the phone and called the Red Cross and said I wanted to volunteer.

And of course, that's how I got into the service.

- [Michelle San Miguel] Fleming was 21 when she enlisted in the army as a second lieutenant.

At the time, the armed services were still segregated.

- You lived in a black dom while other nurses lived in a white dom.

You were separated that way.

The officer's club was not open to you.

- [Michelle San Miguel] When she was stationed at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, she met the man who would become her husband, Lieutenant Theodore Fleming, a doctor in the Army.

The two went on to witness an historic moment.

In 1948, President Harry Truman signed an executive order banning segregation in the military.

- There shall be equality of treatment and opportunities for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, creed, or color.

- Is there one story or something that sticks out to you from that time?

- I don't talk about it too much because I had a chance to see both sides.

- [Michelle San Miguel] She's referring to her time for German POWs at a camp in Arizona.

A far different assignment from tending to wounded American soldiers.

- Our boys were coming back from World War II and they were coming back emaciated.

They were broken, they had been wounded.

I had these feelings.

How could you treat ours so badly when we are treating yours so grandly?

- [Michelle San Miguel] Nearly 80 years have passed since Fleming served in the army.

Still, she remains physically active.

She enjoys walking through Providence, the city she's called home since 1946.

She admits getting used to the weather took some time.

- I came on July 5th.

I left San Antonio was 103 degrees.

I got here the next day I almost froze to death.

- What was it?

- I guess it was maybe 70 or 60 or 70.

I said that normally that you know, in the summertime, oh, I was cold the whole summer.

I was cold.

- [Michelle San Miguel] Several years after moving to Rhode Island, Fleming took a job working full-time at Rhode Island Hospital's School of Nursing.

But after two years.

- Somebody came into my husband's office and said, I see you've got your wife working.

That was it, I had to quit.

- Because?

Your husband did not want you working.

- No, he wasn't too happy about it anyway.

My husband is just so, well he was of that era.

That's my daughter Jackie.

My son, Theodore.

- [Michelle San Miguel] Fleming became a stay-at-home mother for a few years, raising her two children and then made a career change.

- I decided, well, maybe if I went into public education, maybe that would help because I would be out the same time that my kids would be out.

- We are so grateful that you are here and we're so honored to be in your presence.

- [Michelle San Miguel] The Providence City Council recently honored her service to the community, which includes 41 years as an educator in the Providence School District.

(audience applauds) She took on various roles from teaching to overseeing the district science curriculum.

Fleming also made history as the first black nurse to teach at Rhode Island Hospital.

Service, she says, is in her blood.

- I was taught that you give something back.

- [Michelle San Miguel] She comes from a long line of family members who've served both in the military and in government.

Her nephew, Ron Kirk, was the mayor of Dallas and the United States Trade Representative under then President Barack Obama.

Fleming remembers her nephew introducing her to the Obama's while Martha's Vineyard.

- He insisted on getting my dinner.

I didn't have to do anything.

- [Michelle San Miguel] She also sat on numerous boards from Planned Parenthood of Southern New England to Miriam Hospital.

- I was a trustee for 18 years, that's a long time, and that then I became a life Governor.

- [Michelle San Miguel] Fleming remains sharp and mobile at 100.

She still drives and appreciates having the freedom to move around.

She goes for a two mile walk in Providence three times a week down from five days per doctor's orders.

- Because I've been saying I was going to go to the Good Feet store and see if they had something that would help with my balance.

- [Michelle San Miguel] On this day, two friends joined her for a stroll down Blackstone Boulevard.

- I was so fortunate he took me right away.

And you know, he's a specialized trauma surgeon.

- Oh, already seen.

- [Michelle San Miguel] She lives with her 75-year-old son.

She credits him with being able to maintain a high quality of life.

- I'm so lucky because people my age are stuck in nursing homes.

Nobody to see them, nobody to do anything for them.

But yet I still have people around me and I have young people around me.

- As you reflect on your life, the people you've met, the experiences that you've had, what is the most important lesson you think that you've learned?

- You have to be kind.

I try not to hurt people's feelings, and I know my kids don't think that, (Bennie laughs) but, and I try not to get into people's business.

(plays piano) - [Michelle San Miguel] Instead of meddling in the lives of others, she says she remains focused on enjoying her own.

- At this stage in my life, happiness is all I'm looking for.

You know, tragedy comes, you can't help that.

But fortunately, thank God we've been spared something like that.

(plays piano) - At the start of World War II, African American women were prohibited from serving in the Army Nurse Corps.

That changed in 1941 after black civil rights organizations and the Black press pressured the U.S. Department of Defense.

Finally on tonight's episode of Weekly Insight Anaridis and our contributor, WPRI 12's politics editor Ted Mesi discuss the revised state budget for the new fiscal year.

But first, the plans and the cost of rebuilding the westbound side of the Washington Bridge.

- Ted, welcome back.

The news we've been all been waiting for is finally out and likely not what a lot of people wanted to hear.

The new westbound Washington Bridge won't be complete until November of 2028.

That's five years since it's been shut down would be, and also over two years later than originally promised.

- Yeah, it's a sobering moment.

I think, Anaridis, for people and knowing this is going to be at least a half decade crisis based on that timeline.

And I do think about what we've seen on social media all through this crisis where people have been, a lot of people have been skeptical.

You might even say in some cases, cynical about the timelines and goals state leaders have put out, well that skepticism has proven warranted.

- A lot has changed, including the cost.

We're learning that the new bridge could cost an estimated $427 million.

That doesn't include emergency cost or demolishing the existing bridge.

All in all, we're looking at this crisis potentially costing taxpayers more than half a billion dollars.

- Right, and let's talk about how much the goalposts have moved.

So the very preliminary early estimate from the state suggested the new bridge could be done perhaps for as little as $250 million.

Now, as you said, we're talking over $500 million and there are concerns at the State House, I was just there the other night, that is this really the end of price escalation on this project?

Because we've seen cost overruns so many times on big state projects.

So I think that's another fear and concern that's out there for the next few years.

- To all of the state leaders are saying, listen, the procurement process was less than ideal.

We all remember last summer where no vendors responded to the initial RFP.

They had to change the criteria.

They even included an incentive for builders if they finish early.

At a news conference, the governor spoke about these new plans and he was directly asked if he took accountability for the state's inaccuracies in those early estimates and cost.

And here's some of his response.

- Well, first of all, I think that we got it right.

We tried to accelerate it, but the expertise and the industry let us know that the timeframe was as we are presenting today.

So as far as I'm concerned, we're in a good spot.

- Ted, the governor seemingly trying to put the best face on this crisis ahead of his reelection campaign.

- Yeah, I mean his advisors I think are under no illusions that this has been a major problem for him politically.

I think it's a big reason we've seen his numbers drop so drastically in public opinion polls.

You know, if you ask him what's your case to the voters going to be, they say, look, first of all, they closed the bridge before crisis.

Nobody got hurt.

It didn't collapse.

He inherited this.

You know, many other governors also oversaw the Washington Bridge and left it in this state.

And you know, they're saying they know there have been problems along the way, but in the end they've got a bid, they've got a reputable company, they have a budget in place.

It's not as high as some of the things people are whispering.

A billion dollar bridge, you know, things like that.

The question is if voters are going to accept that as a reasonable standard for the governor or if they wanted more.

- Yeah, the Washington Bridge also at the forefront negotiations at the State House legislative leaders this week also unveiling their revised state budget for the new fiscal year, which starts July 1st.

They're putting money into the reserves to cover the state's share of the cost of the bridge, but also a shift in negotiations.

No longer looking at the millionaires tax, but looking at other tax and fee increases to pay for healthcare.

- Yeah, this has been a theme all through the legislative session, Anaridis, the healthcare crisis.

You know, we have hospitals, we have what's going on with Fatima and Roger Williams.

You had Anchor Medical closing.

The primary care physician shortage we're always hearing about, that clearly resonated with how speaker Joe Shekarchi and other legislative leaders, they had to do something, but it was difficult to find more money for healthcare in a budget that was already facing a deficit, federal relief funds running out.

So, and in the end they found over $40 million for primary care, $38 million for hospitals, $12 million for nursing homes.

That's all including federal matches.

But for the state chair that they had to find places to bring in more revenue.

So what are they doing?

Two cent increase in the gas tax to help close RIPTAs deficit.

Registration fees are going up $4 a month fee now on people's health insurance premiums.

A new tax on ZYN and other nicotine pouches.

So lots of those kind of nickel and diming kind of things.

- At a press briefing with reporters, house speaker spoke about how he approached those trade-offs.

Let's take a listen.

- We addressed the issues where we thought that the most critical needs were with the resources that were available to us.

And in some cases we had to increase, you know, fees and revenues.

But we were very strategic.

We did not want to hurt working families.

- It seems like the pandemic relief money running out is putting the legislature in a tough place when it comes to balancing the budget.

- Yeah, it's, we're kind of back to where we were before COVID, Anaridis, I mean the state just has a permanent problem.

It a ton of the state budget is healthcare and education.

The cost of those services go up significantly more every year.

Then tax revenue goes up, which is why every year, seemingly they are looking for another place to grab some more revenue.

The fee on health insurance, let's put 2 cents on the gas tax, et cetera.

And I don't really see what is going to change that dynamic anytime soon.

So people should be prepared for it in the future too.

- Thank Ted, thank you for being here.

- Good to be here.

- That's our broadcast this evening.

Thank you for joining us, I'm Pamela Watts.

- And I'm Anaridis Rodriguez.

We'll be back next week with another edition of Rhode Island PBS Weekly.

You can now listen to our entire broadcast every Monday night at seven on the Public's radio.

And don't forget to follow us on Facebook and YouTube.

You can also visit us online to see all of our stories and past episodes at ripbs.org/weekly, or listen to our podcast on your favorite streaming platform, goodnight.

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