Affordable housing program measure narrowed
Anne Arundel County Council walks back decision to widen eligibility requirements
A bill written by the administration of County Executive Steuart Pittman to create a new affordable housing program in Anne Arundel County was narrowed Monday night by the County Council to apply only to those who live and work in the county.
Eligibility requirements for affordable housing have been a major sticking point as the council has refined the essential worker housing access bill over the past two months. If passed into law, the legislation would require all developers to set aside 15% of units in each building project for renters earning around $62,000 or less and buyers earning about $83,000 or less.
The original draft bill required those who apply for the affordable units to live in the county for a year or work for the county or its school system. Nurses, librarians and social workers raised issue with the preferential treatment offered to county employees, arguing they too are essential workers even though they work for private or semi-private entities.
Initially, council member Julie Hummer, a Laurel Democrat, put forth an amendment Nov. 20 lifting all geographic and employment-oriented eligibility limitations. The only prerequisite to applying became income level.
Other council members said that was too generalized.
That amendment “went much broader than we wanted,” said council member Lisa Rodvien, an Annapolis Democrat. “It gets very hard to define who is essential and nonessential and probably every worker in the county is essential to someone.”
Rodvien proposed another amendment requiring all applicants to already live, work or have accepted a job offer in Anne Arundel County, which passed unanimously Monday.
“We unintentionally made the geography of who is eligible to apply much broader than we intended, so this brings it back,” to Anne Arundel, Rodvien said.
On Monday, at his State of the County address, Pittman noted housing is the top issue his administration hopes to tackle in the upcoming year.
“That’s an example of something that
we’re really moving on now and have really needed to for a long time,” Pittman said. “While there’s not unlimited money, by any means, we’re going to have a tough budget year – as the state is and everybody else; we really have to set ourselves up to be able to finish some of this.”
The bill is perhaps the most sweeping attempt to combat the affordable housing shortage the county faces.
Data obtained in 2022 by Arundel Community Development Services, a quasi-government housing nonprofit, showed that the county is short around 12,500 affordable units. Also, around 45% of Anne Arundel County renters spend more than 30% of their salary on housing while about 20% spend more than half their income on rent.
As review of the legislation comes to a close, the council and county executive are turning their focus to another major obstacle to development — zoning.
“At the end of the day, this comes down to math,” said council member Pete Smith, a Severn Democrat, in November, adding that where developers are allowed to build under the current code “is the harder problem.”
Roughly half the county, from the center down to the southern border, is zoned for agricultural use, meaning for every 20 acres only one home may be built.
“Ninety percent of the damn county is low density so how are we going to build opportunities for folks if we don’t have an honest conversation with ourselves and say exactly where we want to build it?” Smith said. “The key is being strategic.”
Smith assured those who complained about the essential worker housing access bill not being comprehensive enough that other legislation was forthcoming. Upcoming changes will enable more building in more parts of the county, which will include affordable units.
Another bill the council discussed Monday night establishes a process for redevelopment, which, until now, has been subject to the same permitting and zoning processes as development. The bill waives certain fees and procedures for redevelopment, creating incentives for builders to improve properties they already own and create more or better housing in older, vacant or underutilized complexes.
Both bills may be voted on at the next meeting, Dec. 12.
Also Monday night, Allison Pickard, a Glen Burnie Democrat, was voted in as the council’s new chair, replacing Smith, who served for the past year. The role, along with vice chair rotates annually. Hummer will replace Pickard as vice chair.