Welcome to KeepSpace

Rhode Island Housing and KeepSpace Partners: Working together to bring you home FAQs for developers & municipalities \| General FAQs home

	Q. What is KeepSpace? A. KeepSpace is a groundbreaking approach to creating thriving, lasting communities. Initiated by Rhode Island Housing, KeepSpace embraces broad-based, respectful partnerships among those committed to building and preserving a Rhode Island in which families can thrive, children can learn and grow, and communities can prosper. We are reaching out to, and forging permanent productive partnerships with equally committed agencies and individuals whose disciplines touch upon the development and preservation of our natural and built environments. To accomplish the KeepSpace vision, partners will work together in a multi-disciplinary, welcoming environment with the ultimate, shared goal of building a better, healthier, stronger Rhode Island for the 21st century. In creating partnerships among those who focus on jobs, the environment, infrastructure, real estate, and local government, we will combine our expertise, rather than work on isolated parts of land development and preservation. The result: strong, healthy, prosperous communities that use integrated solutions to many of the development and environmental challenges facing Rhode Islanders and their state. Q. What is a KeepSpace Community? A. KeepSpace will result in well-balanced communities that are safe, viable and inclusive. They will thrive economically and socially while maintaining a clean, healthy environment. KeepSpace Communities feature homes that are safe, inviting and affordable to the Rhode Islanders who live and work here. KeepSpace communities will maintain the natural beauty of the area. Jobs, schools, shops and services are easily connected to each other and accessible to residents. Families and commerce will prosper in attractive, secure settings that nourish community and purpose. By developing innovative systems for conserving and renewing resources, and designing homes and buildings that match the workforce needs, KeepSpace Communities thrive economically, socially and environmentally. Foresight and quality are designed into every interdependent building and system, fueling the engine of the KeepSpace promise: constructing and preserving a place in which families can thrive, children can learn and grow, and communities can prosper, so the Rhode Island community enjoys a sustainable future. Q. What is Rhode Island Housing’s role in KeepSpace? A. Rhode Island Housing is the founding partner of KeepSpace. We are reaching out to, and forging permanent productive partnerships with equally committed agencies and individuals whose disciplines touch upon the development and preservation of our natural and built environments. To accomplish the KeepSpace vision, partners will work together in a multi-disciplinary, welcoming environment with the ultimate, shared goal of building a better, healthier, stronger Rhode Island for the 21st century. Rhode Island Housing has allocated up to $10 million to help fund the development of the first 3-5 KeepSpace Communities. Q. What specific issues will KeepSpace address? A. KeepSpace will involve itself in Rhode Island’s natural and built environment. To the extent that KeepSpace promotes development practices that preserve and enhance as much open space as possible, Rhode Island will have more families that thrive, children that learn and grow, and communities that prosper. Equally important are the creation of communities that include jobs that pay living wages, homes that are safe and affordable and infrastructure that supports our homes and commerce. KeepSpace does not expect to tackle equally critical issues outside the physical realm such as social services, education and tax structures. However, the way we build can also dramatically impact the health and quality of our lives, and the cost of providing and maintaining essential infrastructure such as water, sewer, transportation and utilities. Q. How does KeepSpace differ from organizations such as HousingWorksRI, LISC and Grow Smart? A. These organizations are all committed to building a better Rhode Island for the long term. Grow Smart is primarily a business-based organization that recognizes that encouraging economic growth while minimizing the environmental impact is sound business practice. LISC’s mission focuses on supporting communitybased, non-profit organizations in their efforts to build strong neighborhoods. HousingWorksRI recognizes and promotes the concept that providing a variety of options for affordable homes and a strong housing sector are essential to a healthy economy. KeepSpace recognizes the importance of all these efforts, as well as the goals of many other programs and organizations that shape development and preservation, while promoting coordination and effective outcomes for the state as a whole. Q. Are KeepSpace developments “green?” A. Environmental preservation and enhancement through low-impact construction and energy-efficient structures are major elements of KeepSpace. The KeepSpace name emphasizes the preservation of our natural environment. However, the natural environment will have equal standing with many other critical elements towards the creation of a state in which families can thrive, children can learn and grow and communities can prosper. Such critical elements include affordable homes and economic development. Several organizations have missions, and utilize ratings systems and guidelines, more directly linked to “green” development such as LEED or Energy Star. KeepSpace will not duplicate these efforts, but such standards and recommendations can be tools within the KeepSpace inter-disciplinary and cooperative approach to development. [more]