How recent housing advancements provide hope for Rhode Island
PROVIDENCE — Unsheltered homelessness numbers have risen year after year since 2020, according to the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness. Housing-support nonprofits are struggling to meet the demand, but the states’ major homelessness advocacy developments makes them hopeful.
As one of the biggest victim service agencies in Rhode Island, the Sojourner House mainly serves women and domestic violence victims who are at risk for homelessness.
Sojourner House Youth Diversion and Navigation Advocate Faith Bessette says it’s a struggle to meet the housing demand in the state because of how many people are in need. She doesn’t blame one singular person for the homelessness crisis, she rather says it’s a systematic issue.
Click here to watch Emily Morgan’s video about unsheltered homelessness.
“Our system is not set up for the need we are experiencing right now,” said Bessette. “It wasn’t set up for the need we were experiencing pre-covid, but the solutions were more available because there just weren’t as many people in situations like there are right now.”
The 2025 Point In Time Count showed 618 people were unsheltered, a jump from the 2020 number of 108. Rhode Island Secretary of Housing Deborah Goddard questions the integrity of the methodology used in the PIT count.
“I’ve had a huge concern right from the beginning about the integrity of the numbers because those numbers were collected in a manner that is not consistent with HUD methodology,” said Goddard. “So, you could call in and say ‘I have no place to sleep tonight,’ and they took those calls for five nights.”
During this year’s PIT count that was conducted in January, the methodology excluded phone calls to prioritize accuracy of the unsheltered numbers.
Despite her concerns with the PIT count methodology, Goddard emphasizes the need for the state to produce more housing. This is happening right now in accordance with the State Housing Plan, which aims to produce 500 housing units for people with extremely low incomes and 2,250 affordable rental homes by the end of 2030.
Also new this year under Governor Daniel McKee are seven physical Regional Access Points including Crossroads Rhode Island and the Sojourner house. These ensure people at risk can go to a spot local to them to easily obtain resources such as housing management, emergency shelter or counseling.
Other recent improvements have been seen already through the decreased use of winter shelter beds around Christmans time, according to Goddard.
As housing additions progress, Bessete and Goddard both emphasize the need for people to be humane about those struggling with homelessness and the housing needs that come with the crisis.
“I just ask people to be humane and to have an open mind when we try and our partners try to put housing or shelter or permanent supportive housing in your community,” said Goddard.
With the change in methodology paired with the implementation of the Regional Access Points, Goddard is hopeful for better PIT count numbers for 2026.
“I think we’re seeing trends that are moving back to pre-Covid numbers,” said Goddard. “I think things are getting better, but we’re still going to have a challenge, we’re still going to have something that we have to address very seriously.”
The 2026 PIT count results are expected to be released before the end of spring.
