Low-income residents may be forced out of a Columbia development if the Howard County Council passes a bill that would increase the amount of affordable housing.
The bill would convert the 100 town houses and apartments at Guilford Gardens on Oakland Mills Road from subsidized rental units into condominiums for low- and moderate-income families. Families making less than $65,000 could purchase the units for about 60 percent of cost, and the county would pay the rest.
One resident who lives at the complex says she could not afford to purchase a house or pay the added fees a condominium requires.
“I don?t think it will be affordable to me personally,” said Susan Gilbert, a disabled homemaker who lives in an apartment at Guilford Gardens with her daughter in subsidized housing, in which the federal government pays part of her rent. “I have a problem with moving my children around, and changing schools.”
Council Member Calvin Ball, D-District 2, said current residents would have the option to purchase the houses. Also, programs will be enacted to help them purchase a house, or move elsewhere.
“We are offering an opportunity for affordable housing, but not everyone wants to take advantage of it. A lot of people do want to own a home, and we?re offering this opportunity for them,” he said.
Home ownership creates a more stable neighborhood, said Robert Brownell, chairman of the Howard County Housing Commission.
“Instead of paying rent, it gives them a chance to pay toward a mortgage and toward ownership,” he said. “That is what people want to have. They want to have their own home. It?s the American dream.”
What?s next
» The Howard County Council will vote on a proposal that could change the Guilford Gardens development into condominiums at 7:30 p.m. July 3 in the George Howard Room of the Ellicott Building on Court House Drive in Ellicott City.
