Howard officials are taking steps to more evenly distribute affordable housing throughout the county, amid complaints that some areas have more than their fair share.
“It is and will be our policy to provide for mixed-income communities,” said Housing Deputy Director Thomas Carbo, adding new or redeveloped housing will include moderate-income and regularly priced units.
For example, to qualify to buy a house through the county?s moderate-income housing program, an individual can make up to 80 percent of the median income, or $51,063.
Oakland Mills village board members raised concerns about unbalanced housing this week as the County Council is considering several affordable housing measures, three of which the group opposes.
Oakland Mills and other older Columbia villages have lost some high-end housing while gaining affordable housing, Village Board Member Bill Lewis told the council.
The board wants districts with a higher percentage of students receiving free and reduced meals than the county average excluded from the measures, which aim to expand opportunities for affordable housing. That federal school program might not be an accurate measure of the level of affordable housing in an area, Carbo said.
Further, Oakland Mills doesn?t have a greater proportion of subsidized housing than the other villages, based on the county?s annual rental housing survey, which tracks rental properties including those that are subsidized, he said.
Council Chairman Calvin Ball, D-District 2, who introduced the bills, said he?s not sure the legislation is the right place to address those concerns, and many of the new houses in Oakland Mills are on the market for more than a half-million dollars.
“If there were big apartment complexes or communities scheduled to be built and were low-income, then we could have a more fruitful discussion, but that is not the case,” he said.
The county can?t just direct where affordable housing should be built, since factors such as zoning, transportation and infrastructure must be considered, Carbo said.
However, when Howard reviews its General Plan, which guides county decisions on growth, in the next few years, housing distribution will be taken into account.
“This is a very large planning issue that we would not take on alone as the Department of Housing, but with [the Department of Planning and Zoning] and the executive?s office,” he said.
BY THE NUMBERS
Percent of students receiving free and reduced meals in 2005 to 2006
» Oakland Mills Middle 27.9
» Oakland Mills High 21
» County average 11.3
Source: Howard County Public Schools
