Haley Lemieux
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haleylemieux.bsky.social
Haley Lemieux
@haleylemieux.bsky.social
Policy director at Maryland Dept of Housing & Community Development 🦀🏡 / Montgomerian turned Anne Arundelian / Views strictly my own
(Paraphrased, bc audiobook. Enjoying this a lot, framing, historical context and analysis all great).
April 20, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Getting to see the purple line progress at New Carrollton is my work commute treat
April 13, 2025 at 6:06 PM
(2) I'm optimistic about the future. There's a lot of folks in Annapolis & across the state who understand the consequences of maintaining a status quo where 1 in 3 MD families struggle with their monthly housing payment. Lots of opportunities for progress! (/ End)
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Aaand finally, I was of course disappointed the Governor’s Housing for Jobs Act (HB 503) didn’t make it all the way through. I won't reflect too much here except to say that: (1) I'm very grateful to the tremendous effort from everyone involved to move a solution forward, and...
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
local gov’ts can *only* do rent stabilization w/ vacancy control, tenant organizers face retaliation, and ~5K holding over evictions are filed annually. The bill included practical exemptions & I’m not aware of any evidence that good cause *individually* ↓ housing construction.
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
I was also disappointed that good cause eviction (HB 709/SB 651) didn't advance AND to see a narrative that tenant protections broadly are in conflict with increasing housing supply. Good cause would have been an improvement over a status quo where...
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
Disappointing that MDOT’s HB80 didn’t cross the finish line. It’s hard to overstate how underutilized land around rail is in most of MD. More flexibility to build on state-owned land + limiting parking requirements around rail would have been a high-impact, low cost reform.
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
And, finally important expansions for financing for affordable housing projects were passed: SB327/HB390 grants local gov’ts more flexibility to execute PILOTs and HB 1085 extends property tax exemption for PHA owned properties.

Alright, now for the L's...
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
I'm proud of DHCD's bill (HB 59) to prevent folks from losing their homes over very small amounts of property tax debt passed unanimously. 12K owner-occupied homes went to tax sale last year. HB 59 helps by capping redemption rate at 10% + withholding if less than $1K is owed.
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
The ultimate impact of the bill will be filtered through the policy choices that local gov’ts make in adopting compliant ordinances, so that will be something to watch in the coming months. But: no matter what we’ll have more much needed homes in more neighborhoods statewide.
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
First: The wins! Del. Stewart and Sen. Washington's legislation to allow ADUs statewide in Maryland passed. 2 items in the final bill I especially like: local gov'ts have to do a study to justify addtl parking requirements + explicitly prevents HOAs from restricting ADUs.
April 9, 2025 at 12:23 AM
And a UMBC poll released last week that found 63% of Maryland voters rank the cost and availability of housing as a high priority:

htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/umbc-p...
htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com
March 3, 2025 at 5:48 PM
A Jan poll from the Washington Post that found housing was Maryland voters' top concern:

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
Poll: Md. Gov. Moore’s taxes on the wealthy and cannabis are popular
Maryland residents support Gov. Wes Moore’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, but they’re not enthusiastic about a 75-cent delivery fee.
www.washingtonpost.com
March 3, 2025 at 5:48 PM
This validates other poll findings, including a February poll that found 42% of younger renters are considering leaving MD due to housing costs:

www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...
Poll: Maryland voters cite housing as top concern
Two polls in the last month found housing was the top concern.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com
March 3, 2025 at 5:48 PM
The article is worth reading in full. It confirms that most Marylanders think there are too few housing options and believe that more housing would improve their communities:

ggwash.org/view/98610/2...
Marylanders want more homes and fairer development rules
Marylanders say housing costs are a problem, they want the state government to do something about it, and they’re open to Governor Wes Moore’s proposal to boost homebuilding. That’s what we learned in...
ggwash.org
March 3, 2025 at 5:48 PM
It’s almost like agencies have to directly cite the congressional authority that allows them to promulgate regulations every time they do so 🙃
February 13, 2025 at 10:19 PM
If only there were parking requirements to preserve the ultimate public good of people being able to park close to the mall!!
February 1, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Proud to be part of the team that brought this competitive $ to Maryland to help address our state’s affordability crisis.

The full grant proposal submission is available online: dhcd.maryland.gov/Documents/Pr...
dhcd.maryland.gov
January 15, 2025 at 11:55 PM