The Rhode Island House of Representatives has signed off on a bill that aims to streamline permitting for emergency shelters and pallet villages like the one that took a year to open in Providence.
The chamber voted 68-1 Tuesday to pass the amended bill sponsored by House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi that creates a new type of emergency shelter under the state’s building code called Supportive and Versatile Emergency (SAVE) units. Rep. Robert Quattrocchi, a Scituate Republican, was the lone vote against the bill.
Shekarchi’s bill would allow municipalities to be exempt from fire and building codes for 180 days, so long as a city or town declares an emergency.
“We know that Rhode Island needs to do more to provide permanent housing for the people who need it,” Shekarchi said in a statement. “While we explore long-term solutions, this act would create specialized provisions to allow SAVE Units to be permitted and constructed quickly to address urgent needs.”
The speaker introduced the bill on Jan. 22 in response to the year of delays that held up the opening of ECHO Village, Rhode Island’s first pallet shelter located within the Route 146 onramp in Providence.
Forty-five cabins manufactured by Pallet, a public benefit corporation based in Everett, Washington, were shipped and assembled in February 2024. But they sat empty as officials struggled to figure out how the cabins fit into the state’s fire and building codes, which had no category for pallet shelters.
Fire permits were approved in April 2024 and a building permit was issued last June. The state then needed to obtain the required fire suppression units to ensure the 45 cabins were up to code, along with a lengthy wait to hook up each building to the electric grid.
An opening ceremony for ECHO village took place on Feb. 11.
Like ECHO Village units, which have both heat and air conditioning, the emergency housing units defined in Shekarchi’s bill must also have climate control, fire and carbon monoxide detectors, extinguishers, a locking door, and windows.
Shekarchi’s bill now heads to the Senate for consideration, where companion legislation is sponsored by Sen. Jacob Bissaillon, a Providence Democrat who heads the chamber’s Committee on Housing and Municipal Government.
Bissaillon’s bill was introduced on Feb. 26 and has not yet been scheduled for its initial committee hearing.
This story was originally published by the Rhode Island Current.
