The incoming work force influx at Fort Meade will put a strain on Anne Arundel?s limited affordable housing supply despite the new workers? high-level salaries, officials said.
“We should be quite concerned … about the tightening of existing housing,” said Trudy McFall, legislative chairwoman of the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition.
The Base Realignment and Closure process will bring an estimated 22,000 jobs into and around Fort Meade starting in 2010.
About 4,000 workers are expected to relocate to Anne Arundel via BRAC, most of whom will have salaries of more than $75,000.
Though not exactly the ideal candidates for affordable housing, those prospective homebuyers may drive up the housing market, McFall said, and that would make it harder for others to obtain affordable houses.
“Land owners will say, ?Here comes the land rush,? and prices will go up,” McFall said.
Even though BRAC workers may make $75,000 on average, the value of that income is relative to the county?s high housing costs, officials say.
“When you look at a 30-year fixed mortgage in today?s market, you?d have to make $90,000for a $300,000 home,” said Bob Burdon, a member of the county?s BRAC task force.
“Looking at the average price in this market for a single-family home, affordability is absent by and large.”
To increase affordable housing near Fort Meade, officials said they hoped the county would include revisions in its 10-year review of the general development plan, the county?s master guide for zoning and land use.
Among the suggestions are:
» Higher residential density in western Anne Arundel, which would make it cheaper to build affordable housing;
» A mandate that all development near the fort contain a sizable percentage of affordable housing. Such provisions are used in Montgomery and Howard counties.
In its draft report, the county?s BRAC task force recommends using the results from a regional study to examine what housing needs should be considered.
Burdon, a member of the task force?s subcommittee on housing, said the immediate need for housing does not exist, as it takes several years for demand to peak. That will likely happen in 2015, four years after the BRAC influx.
By the numbers
Anne Arundel and Fort Meade officials say the Odenton base could add about 22,000 jobs as a result of the Base Realignment and Closure program.
Military jobs to Fort Meade:
» 4,097 from the Defense Information Systems Agency
» 951 from adjudication activities
» 669 from media and publication activities (Department of Defense)
» Two from Joint Network Systems
Other jobs to Fort Meade:
» 3,049 indirect jobs
» 922 contractors
» 10,000 jobs from private developers on base property
* Projected households coming to Fort Meade are10,679.
