Howard?s new housing leaders have been “cleaning up quite the mess in that department,” County Executive Ken UIman said, acknowledging that initiatives to address affordable housing will be coming soon.
“Please do not mistake time delays as anything other than us getting our house in order,” Ulman said, speaking Thursday at an event hosted by the Association of Community Services for Howard County.
Since Ulman appointed Housing Director Stacy Spann and Deputy Director Thomas Carbo in December, the community has been anxiously awaiting action on recommendations from an affordable-housing task force.
Meanwhile, an outside audit is under way, reviewing all affordable housing projects with the county?s Department of Housing and Community Development and the Housing Commission.
The review came on the heels of residents? concerns about deals struck between the department and developers. Ulman?s transition team found a lack of trust in the department, and the commission “lacks criteria, rules or regulations to guide its actions,” according to the team?s report.
The audit “has been uncovering some things that have disappointed me greatly,” Ulman said, but he declined to elaborate on the specifics.
Spann said initiatives to address affordable-housing needs will be announced in the next few weeks.
“Some of this is about policy shift and making sure there are some process changes,” he said.
One policy shift has already happened. Developers no longer can transfer moderate-income units to different projects or concentrate the units in one location.
“We truly want them spread out in the community,” Ulman said.
Developers are required to include 5 percent to 15 percent of moderate-income units in each new development, depending on the zoning area.
Previously, builders could transfer these allotted units offsite to another project or concentrate the units in one building within the development.
Schoolchildren on the free- and reduced-lunch programs tend to perform better when they are distributed among the community, rather than lumped into a single school, Ulman said.
The change would also help allay a stigma attached to affordable-housing residents, he added.
