Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski issued an executive order requiring that new housing developments receiving County financial support must include affordable housing units.
According to the executive order, any new or preservation development projects receiving County discretionary financial support – including loans, grants, payments-in-lieu of taxes, tax credits, TIFs, and bonds – are required to designate a percentage of units as affordable housing and set them aside to be preserved at specific income thresholds.
The order requires that 20 percent of units must be set aside for affordable units; 10 percent for households at or below 60 percent of the Area Median Income (AMI) and 10 percent for households below 80 percent.
“Access to high quality, affordable housing should be a fundamental right. Leaders have an obligation to do whatever they can to create attainable housing opportunities that allow residents to put down roots and join vibrant neighborhoods,” said Olszewski. “This executive order builds on our successful market-based, mixed-income approach to housing, and ensures that publicly funded developments assist in addressing our moral and legal obligation to provide housing that meet the needs of families at all income levels.”
The controversial executive order has been met with praise and criticism.
Brian McLaughlin, Maryland’s former Assistant Secretary for Neighborhood Revitalization within the Department of Housing & Community Development said this announcement is the form of public/private partnership urgently needed.
“Good housing matters,” said Brian McLaughlin, Maryland’s former Assistant Secretary for Neighborhood Revitalization within the Department of Housing and Community Development and inaugural CEO of Enterprise Community Development, “and regardless of what stage in life we find ourselves, we still need good housing. In calling upon developers to help figure this out – how to make our housing better serve our full community – Baltimore County has raised the bar and said use of public funds means you will also be part of the innovation and trailblazing needed to move our region forward for everyone, ” McLaughlin said.
Olszewski, a Democrat, issued the order on the same week he announced he was stepping down as County Executive after bring elected to the U.S. Congress.
Republican Councilman David Marks questions the timing and the lack of public input on this executive order.
“This is the type of broad-reaching change that should have been debated in public, not issued as an executive order right before the County Executive tendered his resignation,” Marks told eastcountytimes.com.
