new York
Brett Smiley was elected mayor of Providence in 2022 on a promise to build more housing and get things done in Rhode Island’s capital.
Smiley worked closely with city and state leaders to relax restrictive zoning laws and cut red tape to make construction easier. This classic Yes in My Backyard (YIMBY) strategy was fueling a development boom in the city. Providence added more apartments in its last fiscal year than in any year in two decades, with 40 percent of them affordable.
But there was one policy Smiley didn’t subscribe to: rent control.
Locked in a tight re-election campaign against a democratic socialist, Smiley vetoed a rent control bill passed by the Providence City Council in April. His position has placed him on the wrong side of fundamental progressive politics in one of the most liberal countries in America.
“I think it’s a false promise,” he said in a telephone interview earlier this month. “But it’s good policy, cheap and easy.”
Smiley lost the election. It wasn’t close.
He became the first mayor in Providence history to lose a primary, falling in September to David Morales, a 27-year-old state lawmaker and member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Morales, who called the veto “absolutely shameful,” is close to winning next month’s general election. Morales has pledged to sign rent control in his first 100 days.
Struggling renters across America are angry about soaring housing costs and tired of waiting. Many desperately need quick help in the form of rent control offered by a rising generation of leaders like Morales and New York’s Zohran Mamdani — not Smiley’s hard-nosed approach of adding a new offering that takes years to make a difference.
Rent control remains politically powerful in large cities like New York and Los Angeles and smaller ones like Portland, Maine, and St. Paul, Minnesota, although the policy has a checkered history. Rent controls have been shown to limit rents for people living in regulated apartments., but increase them for those who don’t and reduce new housing construction.
Smiley, former chief of staff to former Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, has taken a hard line against rent control. He refused to negotiate with the city council on this issue.
Providence would have become the only city in Rhode Island to control rents, and Smiley believed that many developers would instead choose to build in other communities without these restrictions. The bill would make it harder to build desperately needed housing in Providence, he said.
Rhode Island has lagged far behind other states in housing construction since its peak in the 1980s. From 2008 to 2015, builders received fewer than 1,000 permits per year in the state.
Providence’s rental market has been strained by the arrival of students and higher-income people from Boston, Connecticut and New York to the city, said Brenda Clement, executive director of HousingWorks RI, a research and policy organization at Roger Williams University. Providence also has some of the oldest housing stock in the country. Many apartments have become uninhabitable, further reducing supply.
Providence was ranked last year as the least affordable metro for renters. Median rents have increased by 40% since 2020.
The city council hoped capping annual rent increases at 4% would provide some relief for tenants, with exclusions for many landlords. Landlords who live in one of their properties would be partially exempt from capping rent increases, and new apartments would be exempt for up to 20 years. Existing apartments would also not be subject to rent limits until five years after they were built.
“I wholeheartedly supported capping rent increases at 4 percent per year because I believe our neighbors deserve that baseline stability,” Morales said in an interview. Providence residents “want to make sure they have a mayor who looks out for their interests, not those of corporate donors.”
The exemptions included in the bill will help ensure that developers have an incentive to continue building in the city, Morales said.
Portland and St. Paul were considered models for Providence’s version of rent control. In 2020, Portland voters approved capping annual rent increases tied to inflation. New home construction continued to grow in Portland after the caps took effect, but Portland’s mayor expressed concerns that rent control was making it harder for landlords to maintain existing apartments.
Saint Paul told a different story. In 2022, St. Paul capped annual rent increases at 3% for most apartments. New construction has fallen and rents have risen. Saint Paul now returns to some of his laws.
Smiley and his team studied rent control policies in these cities and spoke with leaders. He came away convinced that rent control would “perversely exacerbate our affordability problems” in Providence.
Smiley isn’t sure what work he will do after leaving office. But he will not support Morales.
“Personally, I don’t believe we should welcome DSA into the Democratic Party with open arms,” Smiley said. “I’m very concerned that this will look a little like the Tea Party of years ago.”
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