One issue pressing on the minds of candidates for the Howard County Council District 2 seat is affordable housing.
With the average cost of a single-family home in Howard County at $445,572, according to the Maryland Association of Realtors, council hopefuls know the issue will make inroads with voters looking to buy homes if they can keep housing costs down.
At Thursday?s candidate forum at the East Columbia Library, the two Democratic hopefuls presented their proposed solutions to the rising housing prices in the county.
Democrat Adam Sachs said Columbia needs to regain its roots of providing different types of housing for people of different socioeconomic backgrounds so they can live side by side.
Sachs proposed providing incentives for developers to build lower-priced housing by offering them tax credits or greater density ? that is, permission to build more houses in a given area than other builders are allowed. He said he would also require that new developments include affordable housing.
Incumbent Democrat Calvin Ball said the council needs more bills like the one recently championed by Council Member Kenneth Ulman, D-District 4, that encourages landlords to rent to Howard County police officers at reduced rates. The Howard County Police Department is deciding how to implement the bill.
Ball said council members should be more active in pressuring developers through creative incentives to “make sure that they keep work force housing on the forefront.”
“If you grew up in Howard County, you should be able to live in Howard County,” he said.
Republican Gina Ellrich, who did not attend the forum, said in an interview Sunday that affordable housing is a “key” issue this campaign.
“I think we can all name 10 people we know who would like to live in this county but can?t,” she said.
Ellrich said she favors providing incentives for developers to rehabilitate aging houses to make them livable and affordable.
She also said the county could do a better job of providing financial assistance to homebuyers.
