Amends the zoning ordinances to allow the town to restrict occupancy to one unrelated person per bedroom in a dwelling, up to a five (5) bedroom unit. Units with more than five (5) bedrooms may be limited to five (5) unrelated persons per unit.

Plain-English Summary

This bill would give Rhode Island towns and cities a new tool to limit how many unrelated people can live together in a home. Specifically, it would allow local governments to pass zoning rules that cap occupancy at one unrelated person per bedroom, with a maximum of five unrelated people in any single home — even if that home has more than five bedrooms.

To be clear about who counts as "unrelated": this rule applies to people who are not family members. Families — such as parents, children, siblings, and other relatives — would not be affected by this restriction and could continue living together regardless of bedroom count. The limits only kick in when the people sharing a home have no family relationship to one another, such as roommates or housemates.

This bill would primarily affect renters who share housing with non-family members, landlords who rent to groups of unrelated individuals, and college students or young adults who commonly pool resources to afford housing by living together. It could also affect group living situations in general. Importantly, the bill does not *require* towns to enforce these limits — it simply gives them the *option* to adopt such restrictions through their local zoning ordinances.

The bill has been introduced and referred to the Senate Housing and Municipal Government Committee, where it will be reviewed before any further action is taken.