Montgomery County has served as a model for Howard County officials seeking solutions for the affordable-housing crisis.
But now Montgomery officials plan to make the issue, which was a catch phrase for many politicians in 2006, a top priority.
“Neighboring Montgomery County has developed some solutions that appear to be helping,” states the final report from the Howard County Task Force on Affordable Housing.
Howard?s task force looked to Montgomery?s Housing Initiative Fund as an example of a successful affordable housing trust fund, which is money set aside for housing that could be matched by state funds.
Montgomery?s housing commission also has the ability to match a purchase offer within 60 days for multifamily housing built before 1981.
This right gives Montgomery a chance to save more affordable rental units that may otherwise be resold at market rate, an ability Howard officials could consider.
These will be among the issues in front of Howard?s new housing director, Stacy Spann, who takes the helm Jan. 15.
Spann, previously an assistant commissioner in Baltimore City?s Department of Housing and Community Development, has said he plans to take a close look at the task force report.
In Montgomery, the development of housing units cost-efficient enough to keep county employees living in the county is a top priority, said Lisa Rother, a planning manager with County Executive Ike Leggett?s office.
The first of these discussions should take place in January, when the council?s housing and economic development-oriented committee will hold a special work session.
Also ofparamount importance is working out the details of a proposal passed this fall that will require developers building housing subdivisions near Metro stations to make 10 percent of the units low-income or affordable housing units.
At this point, the number of units is not available, Rother said.
Strides have been made in Bethesda to build work force or affordable homes, and Montgomery used $21 million to fix up a host of older units and build some less costly new ones in 2006, she added.
“The need continues to be there,” Rother said.
“It?s hard for a lot of employees to be able to afford living in the county.”
