This story was updated at 5:10 p.m. Feb. 9, 2023, to include that the bill was transmitted to Elrich’s office. It was updated at 8 p.m. to add information from the county executive’s office.
County Executive Marc Elrich said Thursday he would either sign or let an affordable housing bill the County Council recently passed into law and that more efforts on that issue—including prospective sites for affordable housing on county-owned parking lots and land—will continue in the coming months.
During a news briefing Thursday, Elrich said that he hadn’t yet seen a final version of a bill—whose lead sponsor was County Council Vice President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1)—that aims to tweak the process for feasibility studies of co-location of affordable housing on county capital projects, like new libraries, police stations, firehouses, and similar facilities.
The legislation requires the county’s Department of General Services to brief the council much earlier on in the capital budget process, answering questions about whether affordable housing is possible alongside potential projects. The council unanimously passed the bill on Jan. 31.
The county charter allows a 10-day window for the county executive to sign or veto legislation passed by the County Council. If the executive doesn’t act, it becomes law without their signature. Elrich said Thursday that the bill would become law, either with or without his signature, and that he is supportive of it.
Angie McCarthy, a spokesperson for Friedson, said late Thursday afternoon that the bill had been transmitted to Elrich, with County Council President Evan Glass’ (D-At-large) signature.
Ken Hartman, the county’s director of strategic partnerships in Elrich’s office, wrote in a text Thursday that the council had transmitted a version of the bill to Elrich prior to Thursday, but that the county attorney’s office prevented it from reaching his desk due to “errors.”
“The errors weren’t content, they were with paragraph numbering, underlining, spelling,” Hartman wrote. “Things a paralegal would catch in proofreading.”
Hartman added that a revised version of the bill was transmitted Thursday, and if the errors have been fixed, Elrich has until Feb. 20 to sign the bill.
Elrich added during Thursday’s news briefing that his administration continues to work on a request for proposals for affordable housing on more than a dozen county-owned sites across Montgomery County. Officials have received multiple bids on many of those sites—which lie on parking lots, parking garages and green spaces—and are currently negotiating with bidders about aspects of their proposals, Elrich said.
Some of the most prominent sites are in Bethesda, Silver Spring and Wheaton, Elrich said.
“When we evaluate [bids], we look at which ones provide the most affordable housing, which ones provide the largest range of affordable housing,” Elrich said. “I’m not interested in things that only provide [moderately-priced dwelling units], which exclude people who don’t make enough [income] and exclude people who make too much [income], but don’t make enough to afford existing rental housing, particularly new rental housing.”
Elrich said county officials are looking to get a bigger mix of the type of units offered, along with the wider levels of affordability provided in each project. County officials recently unveiled a groundbreaking for a $96 million affordable housing project at 4010 Randolph Road in the Veirs Mill corridor, near Wheaton—a complex Elrich lauded.
The county executive said he continues to work with the County Council to finalize both a new moderately-priced dwelling unit policy, and rent stabilization law that also would address affordable housing. A timeline wasn’t provided, but Elrich said he has collaborated with multiple council members in order to get the votes to pass those policies.
The county’s MPDU policy, established in the 1970s, requires that at least 12.5% to 15% of homes in new developments include 20 or more moderately priced units. Elrich has said he wants to raise the percentage range of required units by a significant amount, along with broadening the income-level requirements to target people at lower and higher income ranges, so more people qualify.
On Thursday, Elrich said those changes would be renamed under a “Complete Communities” housing program in order to reflect the need for housing for all types of income ranges, including the most low-income residents. But he’s still working out the final details on that and rent stabilization, he said.
Wilkins touts bill allocating $15 million in housing vouchers for Maryland
Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Dist. 20), representing Silver Spring and Takoma Park, spoke during Thursday’s new briefing about a bill that would allocate $15 million in vouchers into a rental assistance voucher program in Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development.
Wilkins said the funds would not help all state residents still applying for housing vouchers across Maryland, but added the investment is a start.
“We think it will be able to make a small dent across the state with an initial investment of $15 million,” Wilkins said.