Providence City Council Meeting
A special meeting with a single substantive item: the mayor's rent-stabilization veto.
- Took up Mayor Brett Smiley's veto of an ordinance creating the "Providence Rent Stabilization Act." (p. 4)
- The motion to override failed 9–1, short of the required margin, so the veto was sustained and the ordinance did not take effect. (p. 4)
- Councilwoman Ryan cast the lone vote to override; five members were absent. (p. 4)
- Adjourned in memory of Janice Luongo. (p. 5)
Background
The Providence Rent Stabilization Act would have capped annual rent increases on covered units at 4% of the current rent and created an appointed Residential Rent Regulation Board to enforce the cap, hear landlord "fair return" petitions, and rule on tenant complaints. Mayor Smiley vetoed it on April 17, arguing that rent control doesn't actually lower rents and over time shrinks the housing supply, discourages new construction, and shifts costs onto small landlords and working families — while exempting roughly half the city's rental units; he also said the ordinance lacked a workable implementation and funding plan. Overriding a mayoral veto takes a two-thirds supermajority of the 15-member council, so the 9–1 vote fell short and the Act did not become law.
In the news
Overriding a mayoral veto takes a two-thirds supermajority — 10 of the 15 councilors — and the attempt fell short partly because five members who had voted against the ordinance did not attend (WJAR/NBC 10). Council President Miller had scheduled the override vote a week in advance, the last step in a months-long fight over the proposed 4% rent cap (Providence City Council).