(Paraphrased, bc audiobook. Enjoying this a lot, framing, historical context and analysis all great).

Getting to see the purple line progress at New Carrollton is my work commute treat

(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)

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...

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.

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...

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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...

A Jan poll from the Washington Post that found housing was Maryland voters' top concern:

www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...

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...

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...

It’s almost like agencies have to directly cite the congressional authority that allows them to promulgate regulations every time they do so 🙃

If only there were parking requirements to preserve the ultimate public good of people being able to park close to the mall!!

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...