New housing developments that receive financial assistance from Baltimore County will be required to include affordable housing units under an executive order County Executive Johnny Olszewski issued Tuesday.
The requirement would apply to any new or preservation development projects that receive loans, grants, payments-in-lieu of taxes, tax credits, TIFs, and bonds from the county.
Twenty percent of units in these projects will need to be affordable housing, including 10 percent for households at or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income and 10 percent for households below 80 percent of the AMI, per the executive order.
“Access to high quality, affordable housing should be a fundamental right. Leaders have an obligation to do whatever they can to create attainable housing opportunities that allow residents to put down roots and join vibrant neighborhoods,” Olszewski said in a statement. “This executive order builds on our successful market-based, mixed-income approach to housing, and ensures that publicly funded developments assist in addressing our moral and legal obligation to provide housing that meet the needs of families at all income levels.”
Private developers can build housing without affordable units, but such projects will not be eligible for the county’s financial support.
Brian McLaughlin is the former Assistant Secretary for Neighborhood Revitalization within Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development and the inaugural CEO of Enterprise Community Development. He said private and public partners can work together to address the need for more affordable housing.
“Good housing matters,” McLaughlin said in a statement, “and regardless of what stage in life we find ourselves, we still need good housing. In calling upon developers to help figure this out – how to make our housing better serve our full community – Baltimore County has raised the bar and said use of public funds means you will also be part of the innovation and trailblazing needed to move our region forward for everyone.”
Baltimore Committed to supporting and incentivizing the creation of 1,000 affordable rental housing units before March 2028, under a 2016 agreement with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is making progress on that goal, with 908 units approved to date.
