Rhode Island General Laws

R.I. Gen. Laws § 45-53-2 (2026)

Legislative findings and intent

✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section RI-LEGwebserver.rilegislature.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

The general assembly finds and declares that there exists an acute shortage of affordable, accessible, safe, and sanitary housing for its citizens of low and moderate income, both individuals and families; that it is imperative that action is taken immediately to assure the availability of affordable, accessible, safe, and sanitary housing for these persons; that it is necessary that each city and town provide opportunities for the establishment of low and moderate income housing; and that the provisions of this chapter are necessary to assure the health, safety, and welfare of all citizens of this state, and that each citizen enjoys the right to affordable, accessible, safe, and sanitary housing. It is further declared to be the purpose of this chapter to provide for housing opportunities for low and moderate income individuals and families in each city and town of the state and that an equal consideration shall be given to the retrofitting and rehabilitation of existing dwellings for low and moderate income housing and assimilating low and moderate income housing into existing and future developments and neighborhoods.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 8 cases, 1996–2011 · leading case: Kaveny v. Town of Cumberland Zoning Bd. of Review, 875 A.2d 1 (R.I. 2005).
Kaveny v. Town of Cumberland Zoning Bd. of Review, 875 A.2d 1 (R.I. 2005). · cites it 4× “” Section 45-53-2. In this case, we are asked to resolve a land use conflict arising out of an application to build one such low-and moderate-income housing project in the Town of Cumberland (town).”
East Bay Cmty. Dev. Corp. v. Zoning Bd. of Review of the Town of Barrington, 901 A.2d 1136 (R.I. 2006). · cites it 3× “” Section 45-53-2. The aspirational language of the act continues by declaring that it is “imperative that action is taken immediately to assure the availability of affordable * * * housing for these persons” as a measure “necessary to assure the health, safety, and welfare of…”
Curran v. Church Cmty. Hous. Corp., 672 A.2d 453 (R.I. 1996). · cites it 2× “” Section 45-53-2. The act accomplishes this purpose by authorizing local zoning boards to entertain requests for zoning relief made by organizations proposing to build subsidized housing as applications for special exception.”
Town of Burrillville v. Pascoag Apt. Assocs., LLC, 950 A.2d 435 (R.I. 2008). “I Statutory Background In 1991, the General Assembly enacted the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act (the act) to address the “acute shortage of affordable, accessible, safe and sanitary housing for * * * citizens of low and moderate income.”
Town of Coventry Zoning Bd. of Review v. Omni Dev. Corp., 814 A.2d 889 (R.I. 2003). “Although § 45-53-2 of the act provides that “an equal consideration shall be on retrofitting existing dwellings and assimilating low and moderate income housing into existing developments and neighborhoods^]” and is silent with respect to residential subdivision proposals, Omni…”
North End Realty, LLC v. Mattos, 25 A.3d 527 (R.I. 2011). · cites it 2× “Section 45-53-2. In its statement of legislative findings and intent, the General Assembly declared that “it is imperative that action [be] taken immediately to assure the availability of affordable, accessible, safe, and sanitary housing for these persons;” and the General…”
JCM, LLC v. Town of Cumberland Zoning Bd. of Review, 889 A.2d 169 (R.I. 2005). “See § 45-53-2. On June 4, 2003, the town council took the first step by passing ordinance No.”
New Harbor Vill., LLC v. Town of New Shoreham Zoning Bd. of Review, 894 A.2d 901 (R.I. 2006). “See § 45-53-2 (“[I]t is imperative that action is taken immediately to assure the availability of affordable, accessible, safe, and sanitary housing.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.