Fair Housing Advocate to Address Montgomery Planning Board as Part of Expert Speaker Series

SILVER SPRING, MD – As part of the Montgomery County Planning Board’s review of housing policy this spring, a nationally known consultant on urban and suburban sprawl and social equity will speak about housing issues at approximately 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 20 at the end of the board’s regularly scheduled meeting. The public is welcome.

David Rusk, an independent consultant, has worked with more than 120 communities to analyze urban problems such as housing inequities. His presentation will look at how Montgomery County’s housing policies, considered among the most advanced in the country, could better meet the challenges that lie ahead as the county continues to grow and become more diverse.

The event is one in a series of public presentations and work sessions sponsored by the Planning Board to engage the public in a discussion of housing issues. The work sessions will inform the board as it considers updates to the housing section of the General Plan, which provides direction on planning decisions that affect housing. The housing policy update will be the board's first since 1993. 

At a work session in February, the Planning Board received a staff report on a new and more comprehensive inventory of the county’s housing stock. Understanding the county’s existing houses – what’s affordable and where – will help the board determine how to both preserve and create more moderately priced homes.

A former mayor of Albuquerque and a New Mexico state legislator who recently relocated to Washington, D.C., Rusk has written books on urban growth strategies and a report examining how Baltimore’s suburbs affects the city’s growth patterns and housing policy. A University of California at Berkeley graduate, Rusk is affiliated with the Gamaliel Foundation, a national foundation of faith-based coalitions.

Rusk is the latest to speak as part of the board’s Excellence in Planning Speaker Series, an effort to broaden perspectives on planning challenges in Montgomery County. Learn more about the speaker series at www.mcparkandplanning.org/development/agp/speaker_series.shtm.

 

WHO:
Montgomery County Planning Board

WHAT:
Growth and housing presentation by guest speaker David Rusk

WHEN:
Thursday, March 20, approximately 7:30 p.m.

WHERE:
Park and Planning Headquarters
8787 Georgia Ave.
Silver Spring, MD