Affording Gaithersburg

"I think they are growing pains," he said. "We've changed from a suburban, semi-agricultural area to a semi-urban, semi-suburban area that is continuing to grow."

Gaithersburg officials estimate that the city has about 4,000 affordable rental apartments. Although the housing boom has waned, developers continue to express interest in redeveloping some of those buildings. Housing advocates worry that they would be converted into ritzier, more expensive homes, displacing poorer residents.

Garcia, 34, lives in Broadstone Apartments, considered by the city to be an affordable housing complex, with his father and disabled mother. He earns about $28,000 a year as an assistant director of plant operations at a hospital and struggles to make his share of the $1,000 rent and $400 in utilities while sending money to his two children in El Salvador.

It could soon get more difficult. City officials said that the Texas-based owners of Broadstone have asked the council to let them add another floor to the three-story building in case they decide to redevelop.

"It's hard," Garcia said on a recent night, while sitting on his couch, the sound of cars whizzing by on Route 355 drowning out a Spanish-language news program on television. "The houses are really expensive, and I have my responsibility in El Salvador."

The proposal has critics among housing advocates and longtime residents alike.

Leaders of Action in Montgomery (AIM), a network of congregations that lobbies for affordable housing, say they are disappointed that the proposal for new moderate-income households is not at least as stringent as the county's requirement.

"We're angered and disappointed that the city of Gaithersburg is not protecting its residents," said Alisa Glassman, lead organizer for AIM.

"It's a good stopgap, but it is minimal," said Jacynth Hughes-Senning, who lives in Gaither House apartments, a property designated as affordable. The proposed affordable housing policy would do little for her. Each month, she receives $785 in Social Security benefits and $218 from her retirement benefits -- not enough to buy a home.

But longtime residents, and even some city leaders, say that the city has more affordable housing than any other part of the county and that imposing a requirement on developers would drive them away. If the county adopts an affordable housing requirement, some say that Olde Towne Gaithersburg, a hodgepodge of mom-and-pop shops, should be exempted to allow for more upscale development.

"What they're looking at is doing something that will potentially act as a disincentive in an area that is having a great deal of difficulty attracting development at all," said Drzyzgula, who is critical of the day-laborer center but does not think that the center is related to the affordable housing debate.

The council is considering excluding Olde Towne from the plan or asking developers there to pay a fee to be exempt from the proposal's requirements. That money would go into a fund the city would use to pay for affordable housing programs.

City Council member Henry F. Marraffa Jr., who is running for Montgomery County Council, said he supports the exemption. What Old Towne needs is the redevelopment of the existing housing stock, which is old and poorly maintained, he said. He worries that the slackening of the real estate market will make it more difficult for Gaithersburg to attract builders.

"What we are beginning to develop, what someone brought up the other night, is slums," he said in an interview.

Marraffa said the city should offer developers incentives to build affordable housing, not obligate them to do it.

"The last thing you want is a city that is spiraling down and is not being revitalized," he said.