More people could be eligible for affordable housing if changes are made to proposed legislation in Howard County.
Council Member Christopher Merdon, R-District 2, proposed making families who earn less than about $66,000 per year eligible for affordable housing.
This amendment was one of four proposed Thursday, the deadline for filing changes to the proposed legislation. The County Council could vote on the bill and amendments Monday or table them until June.
In the original bill, only families who made between about $33,000 and $66,000 were eligible for the 5 percent to 15 percent of new houses a developer must dedicate to affordable housing. The current county zoning guidelines established the range of $36,000 to $57,700.
Merdon did not return repeated calls for comment.
Council Members Guy Guzzone, D-District 3; Kenneth Ulman, D-District 4; and Calvin Ball, D-District 2, agreed that affordable houses can be built off the main development as originally proposed, but their amendment specified that the houses be nearby.
“We wanted to ensure that affordable housing wouldn?t be dumped in Elkridge, or some other area,” Ulman said. “There should be diversity among housing stock.”
They also proposed an amendment that would eliminate the part of the bill that would allow developers to pay a fee instead of building the affordable homes in some circumstances.
“I don?t think it adds anything to the mission of creating more work force housing,” Ball said.
A fourth amendment involved minor wording changes.
The council members did not address the bill?s middle-income range, which begins at the top of the moderate level and extends to about $90,000. The top earners in the middle-income range for Howard County make more than double the national household income of $44,684, according to 2004 Census data.
Merdon and Ulman are running for county executive, and Ball is running for County Council in District 2.
What?s next
The Howard County Council will either vote on or table an affordable housing bill at Monday?s legislative session. The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building on Courthouse Drive.
