While there has been a decrease in public housing units in Baltimore City in the past decade, city residents have not appeared to migrate to surrounding counties.
Cliff Martin, the deputy executive director of the Housing Commission of Anne Arundel, said the county has not seen an influx of city residents seeking affordable housing.
“Anne Arundel doesn?t have the same resources, especially transportation, as the city,” Martin said. “It?s just such a big difference between living here and in the city.”
Anne Arundel has its own public housing system of about 1,000 public housing units and 1,600 housing choice vouchers. The county has about 6,000 people on its waiting list foraffordable housing.
Public housing has declined in recent years across the county because of decreasing federal funds and decaying home conditions. Martin said public housing conditions vary from city to city and county to county.
“Not all public housing is equal.” Martin said. “It?s still a popular alternative, but vouchers offer much more choice.”
With housing choice vouchers, residents choose where they want to live and receive government assistance to pay their rent or mortgage. Government agencies survey potential residences to ensure they are up to standard.
In Harford County, about “98 percent” of residents using the county?s 1,100 housing choice vouchers are from the county, said Shawn Kingston, director of housing in Harford County.
“Tax credits is the future of public housing,” Kingston said. “With public housing, you have to maintain and eventually replace the structure, and it?s just expensive and not well-planned.”
According to the Washington-based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, there has been a shift in funding from public housing to housing-choice vouchers. “From 1995 to 2005, there was a net gain of 700,000 authorized tenant-based vouchers, while project-based housing declined by 500,000 units,” the center said.
Baltimore Housing is dealing with waiting lists of thousands of people eager for affordable housing in the city, Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano said. While Graziano said funding for public housing continues to decrease, Baltimore Housing plans to take 2,500 people off its waiting list for housing choice vouchers in the next year. The city has also unveiled plans to build a $200 million, 1,100-home development in West Baltimore, where the former Uplands Apartments public housing development is located.
“It?s always disturbing to see unmet needs, but for the first time in several years, we have a little more money to address those needs,” Graziano said.
