Proposals Promote Cheaper Housing

Montgomery Panel Suggests Changes

A Montgomery County task force is recommending sweeping changes in the county's approach to affordable housing, including new loans for home buyers, subsidies for county employees, more apartments in private homes and taller buildings with more units.

The proposals, in a draft circulated among members of the affordable housing task force, also urge county officials to consider increasing fees that commercial builders pay. Last year, the County Council more than doubled taxes on home builders.

The housing panel suggests that Montgomery speed up regulatory review of new developments that include affordable housing, allow swifter changes to county master plans and eliminate some fees when developments include affordable housing.

The county's efforts to create affordable housing have been conducted chiefly through a program that requires anyone planning to build more than 20 market-rate units to set aside at least 12.5 percent for moderate-income residents.

But the program has fallen far short of its goals. It often has allowed developers to buy their way out of building the units with contributions to a housing fund, and it rarely fines developers who don't obey the rules.

Montgomery officials have said for years that affordable housing, which they define as housing that costs no more than 30 percent of a household's monthly income, is rapidly disappearing.

Last year, the area median income for a family of four in Montgomery was $94,500, according to the planning department. That means an "affordable" mortgage payment would be about $2,363 a month, or the equivalent of a mortgage on a $346,500 home, said Roselle George, the county planning agency's research manager, who is leading an affordable housing study.

Between 1995 and 2005, the number of affordable single-family houses in the county dropped by 35,000 units, from 90,000 to 55,000, George said. Data that the planning agency is compiling show that many of the county's affordable units are in the eastern part of the Montgomery and in the northern area near Germantown, she said.

The task force proposals will be sent to County Executive Isiah Leggett (D). Although Leggett has not formally endorsed the draft report, he probably will embrace most, if not all, of the proposals because they mirror pledges he made during his 2006 campaign to expand the county's dwindling stock of affordable housing.

Although panel members -- builders, lawyers, bankers and community activists -- agree on many elements of the report, they have not universally embraced it. Critics on the panel, such as Wayne Goldstein, president of the Montgomery County Civic Federation, said the proposals could further fragment a piecemeal regulatory system that allows builders to circumvent established community master plans that control the look and feel of neighborhoods.

Residents groups have complained for years that the county turns a blind eye to many of its regulations. Builders and developers say they are overwhelmed by regulators and a web of rules and taxes they think discourages new construction.

Last year, the County Council more than doubled some taxes on new homes to help pay for roads, schools and other infrastructure. Adding taxes during an economic downturn is a bad idea, builders said.

"The regulatory cost to build continues to increase and imposes an incredible burden," said Raquel Montenegro, a task force member and lobbyist for the building industry. She suggested that if the panel is intent on supporting higher taxes, it should consider an affordable housing tax that would be paid by an array of residents and businesses, not just new home buyers or companies in the building industry.

Barbara Sears, a task force member and prominent land use lawyer in Montgomery, urged the panel to "stop talking about increasing costs on everything. Is anybody reading the paper? Does anyone know what is going on around here?"

Barbara Goldberg Goldman, a longtime housing advocate and Leggett supporter who co-chaired the panel with housing department chief Richard Y. Nelson Jr., said she wasn't surprised by the lingering concerns. "Everybody has to give a little," she said.

The panel recommended establishing an office to coordinate affordable housing programs. It also called for a campaign to explain the value of having housing available that enables residents to live close to their jobs, which is thought to make them more invested in their communities.

The county's current program has created about 12,000 units since 1974 but has about 3,700 under its supervision; most are owner-occupied. At least 700 households are on a waiting list for the affordable housing program, county officials have said, but it's not clear whether the list is up to date. More than 17,000 other people are seeking subsidized housing. About 1,100 people are homeless every night in Montgomery, officials said.

The task force recommends expanding the county's $39 million revolving loan fund through private grants and other non-tax dollars. Montgomery has begun a program to encourage "workforce housing" for teachers, firefighters, police officers and others whose income is higher than that allowed for the affordable housing programs the county operates, but there has been little progress, county planners said.