County Expands Housing Powers
Right to Purchase Apartments Grows
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Thursday, July 12, 2007
In a move to protect the county's shrinking stock of affordable housing, the Montgomery County Council has expanded the county's authority to buy apartments before they are converted into high-end rentals.
The law, spearheaded by County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), is one of the first steps in what officials say will be a new effort to deal with the county's affordable housing crisis. Leggett, who took office in December, made the issue a key platform of his campaign.
"I'd like to get the county much more actively involved," Leggett said. "We have to be an active player in this."
A task force appointed by Leggett has been studying how to deal with the problem and is to make recommendations in the fall.
The bill, approved last week, expands the county's right of first refusal for the purchase of apartments that could be turned into more expensive rentals.
When a rental housing complex of four or more units built up to Feb. 5, 1981, is under contract for sale to a developer, three parties -- the county, a tenant organization and the Housing Opportunities Commission, which develops affordable housing and manages public housing -- have the opportunity to match the price and buy the property.
This option has been exercised 12 times since 1981, ensuring that more than 700 units remain affordable, housing officials said.
The new law extends the right of first refusal to the more than 25,000 multifamily rental units built after Feb. 5, 1981 -- about 37 percent of the county's overall stock.
Thomas Cowley, a member of Action in Montgomery, an organization of religious congregations working on housing issues, said it is important to empower the residents of those units. Action in Montgomery supported the new law.
"Tenants, unfortunately, are sometimes left as mere victims, never having the opportunity to compete in the marketplace and not having a contribution [to] what will be done with their housing," Cowley said.
Council members are considering additional measures, such as expanding the right of first refusal to the county's remaining mobile home park in Germantown. Council member Valerie Ervin (D-Silver Spring) said she might introduce legislation to prohibit tenant groups from selling their right of first refusal.
From 2003 to 2005, the county lost 11,591 apartments with rents of $999 per month or less, according to the National Housing Trust, as complexes were torn down or converted into condominiums.
