South Kingstown housing authority unveils revised Champaign Heights plan to win state funding

The South Kingstown Housing Authority on Monday presented a redesigned plan to redevelop Champaign Heights that reduces the number of buildings while keeping the same number of apartments and bedrooms, officials said.

The revised plan would consolidate earlier proposals that called for 34 buildings into 23 buildings while retaining 85 apartments and 222 bedrooms, Chris Little, chairperson of the South Kingstown Housing Authority, told the Town Council during the council’s Sept. 8 work session. Little said the changes respond to feedback from Rhode Island Housing and other state housing officials about construction cost and scoring under the 9% low-income housing tax credit process.

The housing authority and its partners plan to go before the Planning Board tomorrow seeking approval of a “minor modification” to the permit approved earlier this year, Little said. If the Planning Board recommends the change, the administrative officer will consider it and the team will pursue financing through Rhode Island Housing’s annual competitive funding round.

Why it matters

Little and project partners said they view the redevelopment as preserving existing public housing for 52 families while expanding the supply of affordable/workforce units. Little said the proposal would expand housing at Champaign Heights from 52 units to 85 units — a net increase of 33 units — and could also free capacity to redevelop Fournier with an additional 22 to 24 units.

What changed and why

Paul Ataman of Union Studio Architecture and Community Design described the design changes. To reduce per-unit construction cost, some smaller two-unit and three-unit townhouse-style buildings were aggregated into three- and four-unit townhouses, producing six building types deployed across the site instead of the seven types proposed earlier. Ataman said the consolidated building forms keep the original architectural materials, scale (two-story), and site footprint, but provide more open space, more landscaping between buildings, slightly larger pocket parks, and improved stormwater grading opportunities.

Frank Shea, representing partner Women’s Development, said one reason the project lost last year’s 9% tax credits was a high per-unit cost driven in part by the residential prevailing wage requirement tied to public housing replacement. The partners said Rhode Island Housing has clarified that prevailing wage may count as an “extraordinary condition” in the scoring this year and that the state Department of Housing has been engaged and supportive of the project’s overall redevelopment approach.

Resident engagement and services

Council members pressed the team on resident engagement and on-site services. Little said residents reviewed the original proposal and that the housing authority will continue resident outreach during the next two months before the funding application is filed in December. The team said there is an existing laundry facility in the administration building and the revised design includes a second, larger laundry room near the center of the site. Accessible (ADA) units were described as having in-unit washer and dryer hookups; project staff said they expect three or four units to be fully accessible with in‑unit laundry hookups.

Project schedule and next steps

The immediate procedural step is a Planning Board hearing on the minor modification request. The project team intends to finalize design, submit the funding application for the annual Rhode Island Housing 9% tax credit round in December and await awards around March–April. Partners said they would return to the Town Council to request letters of support when the funding application is filed.

Costs and financing

The team said the redevelopment expects to rely principally on 9% low-income housing tax credits administered by Rhode Island Housing and other common affordable‑housing capital sources. Little and Shea emphasized the project’s cash-flow advantages because public housing assistance would transfer to the new units, improving project revenue assumptions compared with many new, non‑public projects.

Outlook

Project partners said they remain committed and optimistic that the design adjustments improve the project’s competitiveness for state tax credits. Council members welcomed the update and said they expect continued resident engagement and requests for formal council support when the funding application is filed.

Ending

Pending local approvals and a successful tax credit award, the housing authority’s team said it plans to proceed to construction, with more detailed drawings and a council briefing to follow as funding and permits are obtained.