The Buzz HOUSING
In Partnership with The Public’s Radio • ThePublicsRadio.org • By Antonia Ayres-Brown
As Newport home prices rise, undocumented families struggle to find secure housing Housing costs have skyrocketed around Newport, making it increasingly difficult for low-income families to stay on Aquidneck Island. That has put one group in a particularly vulnerable position — Newport’s Hispanic and Latino community Rebekah Gomez and Yolanda Macías, the co-directors of the local organization Conexión Latina Newport, have seen a notable increase recently in the number of Hispanic families needing help securing housing
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The Bay • January 2022
The home is warm and pristine, but there’s always something happening. Fresh chicharrones, fried pork rinds, sizzle in a pan in the kitchen. The parrot squawks in its cage. Her son and nephew play with Hot Wheels cars in the living room and talk about their favorite Marvel superheroes. And the adults come and go, to and from work, morning until night. It has been this way for almost half a year, since Lucia and her family moved from New Jersey to join her sister in Rhode Island. Before that, Lucia emigrated from Central America to the United States seven years ago. Lucia has a work authorization, but her husband is undocumented. To protect her family’s privacy and security, we’re not using Lucia’s real name. She works two cleaning jobs on Aquidneck Island, five to six days a week. Her husband works twelve hours each day in construction and painting, leaving at 6:30 each morning and returning after sundown. They pitch in rent to Lucia’s sister, but it’s still not enough to get their own place. Lucia recently applied for a two-room apartment for $1,800 per month. It was the cheapest she could find, but the landlord rented it
to someone else. After that, she said two-bedroom listings are often closer to $2,500, or even $3,000 per month. So far, nothing has worked out. And Lucia’s family isn’t alone. RISING COSTS AND LIMITED OPTIONS As housing prices have skyrocketed around Newport over the past couple of years, rents have climbed, too. The fair market rent for a two-bedroom on Aquidneck Island is up 20% from two years ago, to $1,705 a month, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s latest evaluation. And the growing popularity of short-term rentals and vacation homes means yearround rentals are generally in short supply. The pandemic provided a further crunch. The housing situation has created a crisis for many island families, according to Rebekah Gomez and Yolanda Macías, the co-directors of Conexión Latina Newport. Their organization serves and advocates for local Hispanic and Latino families, who make up over 8% of the population on Aquidneck Island. This fall, Gomez says they have been receiving three or four calls every week from people
Photo by Antonia Ayres-Brown, courtesy of The Public's Radio
For Lucia, the hardest time of day is when everyone wakes up. She lives in a mobile home on Aquidneck Island with her husband, her two children, her sister, her brother-in-law, and their two children. That’s eight people in total, plus a pet parrot, all in the same small space. All in the midst of a pandemic. It’s most difficult in the morning, she says, because everyone’s in a hurry. One of the first things they do is form a line to use the bathroom. Then, after getting ready, they all shuffle out to head to work and school. That’s the only time of day when the house is calm. Otherwise, Lucia says it’s always crowded. She and husband share a bedroom with their 12-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son, who themselves have to sleep together in a twin bed. There’s little by way of privacy. “I think it affects me emotionally, a bit psychologically,” Lucia said. “Because sometimes all three children, they’re fighting, and the space is small. Or sometimes my sister’s cooking and I have to cook at the same time. So she gets frustrated, and it’s kind of hard to be colliding all over the place.”
