Issue Position: Equality and Opportunity

Issue Position

Income and social inequality across our country -- and here in Rhode Island -- threaten to leave far too many people behind. For our state to succeed, every Rhode Islander must have the opportunity to participate in its economic revitalization. Regardless of who they are or where they come from, Rhode Islanders deserve an equal playing field, which includes the chance to improve their lives through hard work, and to be treated fairly in all respects. Left unaddressed, inequality also threatens to undermine any efforts to improve our state's economy. As governor, I will fight for policies that give working families the support they need to thrive -- and I will work every day to ensure that all Rhode Islanders are treated fairly and with the respect they deserve.

As treasurer, I was proud to testify before the Senate and House Judiciary Committees in support of Marriage Equality. I have long championed women's reproductive rights, and I'm proud to be endorsed by EMILY's List.

Minimum Wage

I will also work to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 in 2015 and index it to inflation, guaranteeing that workers will have a wage that keeps pace with the changing costs of the goods and services they buy, regardless of which way the political winds are blowing.

Affordable Housing and Homelessness

With Rhode Island experiencing chronic unemployment and one of the highest rates of foreclosure in the country, we need to ensure that our families have access to safe, steady housing now more than ever. It is absolutely unacceptable that any child in our state should ever go to school without having had a roof over their head the night before. And none of our veterans who have served our country should ever come home to Rhode Island to find themselves without access to affordable housing. Homelessness and a lack of affordable housing threatens to undermine the very stability of our communities. Despite the good work being done by so many organizations in our state, homelessness continues to grow. In 2012, there were 942 more homeless Rhode Islanders than there were in 2007.

And it's getting harder and harder for our families to pay for their housing, putting more Rhode Islanders at risk of becoming homeless. The Fair Market Rent in our state for a two-bedroom apartment is $945. A minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $7.75. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 94 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or a household must include 2.3 minimum wage earners working 40 hours per week year-round in order to make the two-bedroom FMR affordable.

We must address the increasing expense of housing in our state in order to put money back into people's hands and to prevent more Rhode Island citizens from slipping into homelessness. We need to grow our economy and no longer think of affordable housing as just a structure in which to live: Rather, a safe, affordable and thriving community is a platform to increase family stability and link families to opportunities through access to transportation, education, jobs and healthcare. To do this, we need meaningful changes and a comprehensive affordable housing and community development plan that integrates innovative approaches to both development and financing. Rhode Island needs to create communities that are compact and mixed use with easy access to transit, jobs, shops schools and community centers, in order to strengthen communities, expand housing choices and promote prosperity.

As governor, I will create a strategic plan to both reduce homelessness, and ensure that our state is investing in quality, affordable housing for its low to moderate income families. Ensuring that everyone in our state has a roof over their head is not only the right thing to do; it is also an investment in our future that will result in savings for our state. A 2008 study of found that mitigating homelessness in our state can result in a savings of $7,946 per re-housed individuals, through decreased use of government services like hospital visits, mental health services, time spent in jail/prison, shelter overnights and emergency room visits. And increasing our stock of affordable housing will help put people to work in the building and construction trades.

Combating Homelessness

Despite recent increases in the number of homeless in Rhode Island, our state is actually already poised to significantly improve the situation. We already have a plan to end homelessness within the decade -- now it's time to fund and implement that plan. "Opening Doors Rhode Island" is a strategic blueprint to prevent and end homelessness, developed by the Rhode Island Housing and Resources Commission in 2012 in conjunction with non-profit and service providers across our state. As governor, my approach to homelessness will be consistent with the vision of Opening Doors: That no one should experience homelessness -- and that no one should be without a stable, safe place to call home.

The plan calls to reduce homelessness in the next decade by:

Increasing the supply of and access to permanent housing that is affordable to very low income households;

Retool the homeless response system as a well-oiled machine;

Increase economic security;

Improve health and housing stability; and

Increase leadership, collaboration and civic engagement.

Homelessness is not a problem that can be solved by a single change in policy. Rather, it will take a strategic effort across various levels of government, utilizing new policies and creative approaches, to ensure that we are creating economic opportunity and stability for all Rhode Islanders.

It will also take a coordinated effort and significant investment. That's why as governor, I will seek to implement the vision set out in Opening Doors using a Social Impact Bond

Social impact bonds, also know as "pay for success" projects, are a financing model in which a government contracts with a foundation of a philanthropic organization to pay for a public project or service based on the measurable outcomes of the project or service, or achievement of specific performance targets. The philanthropic organization raises operating funds by issuing bonds, and contracts with private or non-profit service providers to deliver the services. By using a pay-for-success model, we can reduce homelessness at minimal expenses to the state, and ensure that we are laser focused on improving outcomes for those at risk of becoming homeless.

Affordable Housing

While we're combating homelessness, we must also strive to ensure that housing in Rhode Island remains affordable and accessible for low- to moderate- income families. Again, this is not only the right thing to do; it is also an economic imperative. When housing costs outpace wages, our families have fewer dollars to spend on food, necessities, education and their own care. If we can make housing more affordable, we can put more money in Rhode Islanders' pockets, helping to generate economic activity, while also preventing homelessness and ensuring that our communities are thriving. As governor, I will work to ensure that housing in Rhode Island remains affordable and accessible to low- to middle- income families, by:

Utilizing the fair-share requirements for affordable housing and ensuring that new housing developments incorporate a portion of affordable units. Rhode Island passed its fair-share law in 1991 and reaffirmed its commitment with the Low and Moderate Income Housing Act of 2004, which requires every municipality, by 2025 to ensure that at least a certain percentage of its housing stock is affordable to people with low and moderate incomes. However, these mandates are sometimes underutilized and lack the flexibility needed to ensure that municipalities can reach their mandate. To make meeting similar mandate's objectives possible, Massachusetts passed legislation that encourages all local governments to ensure that at least 10 percent of the housing in their community is affordable by applying more flexible and streamlined review standards to development projects with an affordable component in communities where the 10 percent threshold has not been met.

Supporting redevelopment of vacant and abandoned properties, by removing barriers that hinder redevelopment efforts and assisting local redevelopment authorities we can use existing building to increase the number of affordable homes in our communities. Rehabilitation is a major resource for meeting the State's affordable housing needs but the process can be more challenging than new construction because the rehab process is far less predictable and there are institutional and regulatory barriers. Abandoned buildings often prevent or hinder comprehensive urban redevelopment by depressing property values, reducing tax revenues and discouraging development. The state government needs to work with city and community development experts to get rid of the exclusionary land use regulation at the local level and work to find incentives that favor redevelopment and rehabilitation, including favoring applications for rehab for low-income housing tax-credits.

Encouraging local governments to permit more multi-family and higher density housing and utilizing state aid to encourage local governments to permit more construction of higher density and multi-family housing near transit, jobs, and retail.

Helping owners convert market-rate affordable units into committed affordable units. Converting existing home into affordable units could help municipalities meet the 10% mandate without building new units. Policies can include:

working with local communities to identify types of homes that should be targeted for conversion, identifying potential funding sources and forming strategic partnerships to provide outreach to target households.

supporting tax incentives and public funding for energy-efficient upgrades in exchange for a commitment to continue a unit's affordability for a specific period of time.

Promoting supportive regulatory practices and encouraging the use of zoning to facilitate development of lower-cost housing. Similar to efforts to bolster rehab of homes, we can support this by adopting expedited permitting and review policies and ensuring zoning policies allow a diversity of housing types.

Expanding supportive housing programs because they have proven to be effective in moving individuals out of chronic homelessness. Rhode Island's Housing First program found a 90 percent success rate. We need supportive housing programs that help with transitional housing to assist with the adjustment to independent living, permanent housing with appropriate support services designed to maximize independent living, innovative projects to meet the immediate- and long-term needs of homeless individuals and families, and safe haven for homeless individuals with serious mental illness. Home Buying Programs can include:

Neighborhood Home Ownership Centers providing, in one physical location, all the services and training needed to shop for, purchase, rehabilitate, insure and maintain a home. Customers will include current renters, first-time homebuyers and homeowners in need of affordable financing for rehab or repair.

Settlement Assistance Grants offering low- and middle-income home buyers down payment and closing cost assistance, and new mortgages for buying one-to-four family homes.

Innovative Partnerships and Financing Mechanisms to assist low and moderate income families to buy homes through flexible, nontraditional underwriting standards; mortgage risk pools among consortia of investors/lenders; and mortgage assistance and financial counseling for the borrowers. The city should expand partnerships with non-profits and lenders to provide a range of financing opportunities to prospective middle class home buyers, such as

Housing Funds -- mortgage pools of several lenders that provide financing for purchase and rehab of vacant, abandoned or properties in need of repair through first, and even second, mortgages with low down-payments and at lower rates than would be possible on the traditional market.

Lease to Purchase Programs in which buyers attend courses, lease for a period of time, then may assume a mortgage from a partnership of lenders that share the risk. Lease payments are partially set aside for down payment requirements.

Home Ownership Limited Partnerships, which permit homebuyers to partner with a limited partnership for financing to buy the house, reducing the up- front costs and monthly payments for the buyer.

Neighborhood Partnerships in which churches, community organizations and neighborhood businesses take a stake in maintaining owner occupied homes in their own neighborhoods.

Investing in Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities -- creating incentives for neighborhoods where people have lived all of their lives to transition into retirement communities, enabling residents who reach old age to remain in these communities and still have access to basic services like health care, transportation, grocery stores, and the like.

Supporting rental assistance programs that provide monthly rent subsidies as well as budgeting and counseling support for up to two years to help participants successfully transition into and maintain permanent affordable housing.

Keeping property taxes for affordable housing low so that tenants and landlords can afford to keep housing affordable.

Homeowners' Bill of Rights

Rhode Islanders know all too well the pain of foreclosure. Despite minor improvements, the number of foreclosure starts and loans with payments past-due in our state remains unacceptably high as compared to both the region and the rest of the country. Persistent unemployment and high housing cost burdens leave even more of our state's homeowners at risk.

High rates of foreclosures not only threaten the health and safety of our families -- they undermine the very communities in which we live as well. Studies have shown that neighborhoods that lose their owner-occupants have higher crime rates, and result in additional stress on government resources. When a home is foreclosed on, it brings down the residential property value of neighboring homes, and reduces the local tax base. In other words, foreclosures don't just affect the families being foreclosed upon -- they affect all Rhode Islanders.

That's why it's absolutely critical that we do everything we can as a state to support our residents whose homes are being foreclosed on, or whose homes are at risk of foreclosure. As governor, I will institute a Homeowners' Bill of Rights to hold banks and lenders responsible for the welfare of our families.

The Bill of Rights will:

Require banks to prove that the value of foreclosure outweighs the value of modifying the home before denying homeowners the opportunity to modify their loan. In Massachusetts, for example, banks can no longer foreclose on homeowners when it would be less costly to allow homeowners, who are willing and able to renegotiate terms, to modify the mortgage and stay in their home. Under the state's Act Preventing Unnecessary and Unlawful Foreclosures signed in August 2012, creditors now must determine whether the value of modifying the loan outweighs the likely value of foreclosure and, if so, the creditor must make the loan modification. This provision ensures that borrowers will be given every reasonable opportunity to remain in their homes. Just a year after Massachusetts implemented this law, foreclosure petitions in the state dropped considerably.

Ensure the availability of professional and confidential housing and foreclosure counseling, homeownership resources and neighborhood-based foreclosure intervention to help homeowners understand an manage alternatives to foreclosure.

Prevent dual-track foreclosure, so that mortgage servicers cannot advance the foreclosure process while a homeowner is working on securing a loan modification.

Create a "duty of agency" for all mortgage brokers operating in the state, so that brokers are legally required to work in the best interests of consumers.

Require all lenders to make a filing of all foreclosure notices with the state within three days, so that the state can target assistance to distressed homeowners during the pre-foreclosure timeframe.

Increase transparency between lenders and homeowners by:

Requiring full disclosures of payment increases, balloon payments, and responsibility for taxes and insurance;

Mandating that mortgage and real estate advertising fully disclose the index costs of their loans; and

Requiring lenders to notify borrowers three to six months in advance of interest rate resets, and notify them about the availability of counseling and assistance when the mortgager is in default prior to bringing a foreclosure action.

Create tools to strengthen the state's ability to fight mortgage fraud and combat dishonest lending practices by:

Maintaining a registry of all lenders who have had complaints lodged against them, and banning all mortgage originators who have been found to engaged in dishonest and fraudulent practices;

Requiring background checks on all mortgage originators; and

Increasing the penalties for professional misconduct of lenders including stiffer penalties for lenders that make procedural omissions and errors, produce fraudulent documents, or otherwise act in bad faith during the foreclosures process.

Driver's Licenses

I will also work to create a special driver's license for undocumented immigrants, to ensure that all people driving to work or dropping their children off at school are properly trained and insured.

Paycheck Fairness: Ending Gender Discrimination for Rhode Island Women

According to the Congressional Joint Economic Committee, women in Rhode Island earn 81 cents for every dollar paid to men. Pay disparities for women exist across all occupations, regardless of education, industry, marital status or other factors. Median earnings for women are less than those for men in 264 of 265 major occupation categories. And the gap is even bigger for minority women: Black women in Rhode Island earn only 55 percent of the wages of white, non-Hispanic men, with Hispanic women earning only 44 percent.

But equal pay is not just a women's issue: it is an issue that touches all Rhode Islanders. Women in Rhode Island contribute an average of 40 percent of their family's income, and 38 percent of our state's women are their family's primary wage earners. Ensuring paycheck fairness for our state's women will strengthen our families by providing them with much-needed income in a time when many of them are struggling to make ends meet. If we can eliminate gender pay discrimination, our families would have additional earnings to purchase:

77 more weeks of food;

Five more months of mortgage payments;

2,532 additional gallons of gas.

A fairly paid and productive work force is the backbone of a strong economy. Improving equal pay in Rhode Island will not only help our families: it will inject money into our local economy, and reduce the burden on government services as well.

Just as importantly, equal pay is good business. Companies who promote pay equity attract the best and brightest. Equal pay practices promote a happy and productive workforce that feels valued, which can lead to a positive impact on the bottom line.

Rhode Island has a law on the books forbidding wage discrimination on account of sex, yet the wage disparity between men and women persists. That's why, as governor, I will immediately take action to promote a culture of paycheck fairness in our state, by:

Creating an anonymous tip line, so that women who are earning less for equal work will be able to report their employer's non-compliance, and have access to resources to help them earn the pay they deserve;
Creating an equal pay certification status that will be awarded to all Rhode Island businesses that show a commitment to equal pay practices.
In order to earn this certification, a business must show that it adheres to state and federal level equal pay laws, and has internal policies which forbid discrimination on the basis of sex, and procedures in place to remedy discrimination complaints.

If we want to reduce wage inequality in Rhode Island, we must foster a culture that recognizes the value of equal pay for equal work, and provides women with the resources and support they need to ensure that they are being paid fairly. As the state's first female governor, I will work tirelessly to ensure that our state stands behind our families and pays its working women the wages they deserve.

Veterans

Every veteran should have support in securing a good job, accessing quality health care and finding affordable housing. As Governor, Gina will:

Highlight and capitalize on the unique skill sets of returning veterans to help them find jobs.

Enable more veterans to start their own businesses.

Create a special certification for businesses that actively hire returning veterans.

Develop a comprehensive returning veterans plan to prepare our state with a strategy for addressing the unique needs of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan over the long term.

Work with the Board of Education to give college credits to returning veterans matching their existing skills.

Work with the Department of Health to expedite licensure for returning medics to help them become Emergency Medical Technicians or Certified Nursing Assistants.

Fund Opening Doors, the state's comprehensive plan to fight homelessness, to eliminate veteran homelessness once and for all.

Health care training to ensure that all state employees and municipal first responders are trained in veteran-specific mental and behavioral health issues.

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