There is a strange measure of success that many desirable communities eventually confront.

People want to live there.

Home values rise. Neighborhoods become more sought after. A house bought decades ago becomes worth far more than its owner ever imagined. And eventually, the children who grew up there discover they can't afford to come home.

That tension is increasingly familiar in Rhode Island's East Bay, where communities such as Bristol, Portsmouth, Warren and Barrington have become extraordinarily desirable places to live. For longtime homeowners, rising values can represent financial security built over a lifetime. For the next generation, those same values can look like a locked door.

Crossroads RI's affordable housing complex for the medically vulnerable at 371 Pine St. in Providence has gone up quickly. It will have 35 units that are fully accessible for people with disabilities, a first for Rhode Island.

David DelPoio/The Providence Journal

Resolutions submitted at council meetings typically do not lead into any sort of lengthy, in-depth discussion, but one proposed in Warren at the body's September session on the combustable issue of affordable housing prompted an at times contentious, nearly 45-minute back-and-forth between members.

The council eventually moved the item on a 3-2 tally. Council President Joseph DePasquale along with colleagues John Hanley and Louis Rego were in support of the resolution. Council Vice President Keri Cronin and Derrik Trombley were not.