Town Clerk: Fiona Fitzpatrick, CMC Block Island Housing Board: 466-3200 - Creates affordable housing for rental or ownership Block Island Economic Development Housing Corporation: 466-5374 - Programs designed to assist those who are the most severely affected by escalating housing costs; to develop affordable housing in New Shoreham. New Shoreham has the distinction of being the smallest town in the smallest state. The municipality encompasses the entire geographic area of Block Island, an island of just under 10 square miles located approximately 12 miles south of mainland Rhode Island across Block Island Sound. Block Island was known as Manisses (the Little God�s Island) by the Narragansett Indians.