Affordable housing and the impact it can have on growth in Baltimore takes center stage Sept. 27 as the Urban Land Institute of Baltimore explores the issue during a public forum at the Johns Hopkins Downtown Center.
“It will bring together a disparate group of people who are involved in this issue,” said James Goodrich, a Baltimore lawyer and programs committee chair of the ULI Baltimore.
Panelists include Maria Miller, senior development director at the Shelter Development Group; Michael Sarbanes, executive director of the Citizens Planning and Housing Association and chair of the Baltimore City Task Force on Inclusionary Zoning and Housing; Charles Duff, executive director of Jubilee Baltimore; and Jody Landers, executive director of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors.
Sarbanes? task force report, “At Home in Baltimore: A Plan for an Inclusive City of Neighborhoods,” is at the core of the ULI seminar.
Goodrich said the seminar comes in advance of an expected vote by the Baltimore City Council on recommendations from Sarbanes? group.
Among recommendations to the City Council, according to a draft of Sarbanes? task force report, is the creation of affordable housing units in the myriad new developments popping up throughout the area.
Sarbanes advocates a set-aside of sorts requiring developers to allocate a certain percentage of units to be sold below market value and within the financial reach of working-class Baltimoreans.
Landers wants developers to be able to build what the market will bear and give incentives to others who want to offer housing to those who are priced out of the new home market.
“It doesn?t make sense for someone building a million-dollar unit to have to have a set-aside,” he said. “I don?t want any restrictions of private developers who are coming in here with private money. Let the market handle it. In the long run that?s going to lead to more development in the city.”
At issue, the task force wrote in its draft, is “what kind of city we want to be in the future.”
“The rising housing market in Baltimore in the past five years has created a sense of excitement and possibility that the city has not felt for decades,” the task force wrote. “At the same time, this very housing market is a source of great concern for many city residents who wonder where their place and their children?s place will be in the future of the city.”
The event begins at 7:30 a.m. at the Hopkins Downtown Center, 10 N. Charles St. The panel discussion begins at 8:15 a.m.
Registration is available online at Baltimore.uli.org, or by calling 800-321-5011 or 410-626-7505. The last day to register is Monday.
