The Home Stretch

Guest Blog from Margery Austin Turner of the Urban Institute

After several years of exceptionally fast-paced expansion, the Washington region’s growth has moderated, and housing market pressures are easing. Nonetheless, the regional economy remains strong, and average sales prices are high. For low- and moderate-income residents home prices and rents remain out of reach, and housing affordability pressures continue to place too many people at risk of homelessness. Finding a suitable and affordable place to live is especially difficult for people who need special design features or supportive services, such as people with physical and mental disabilities, elderly people who can no longer live independently, and individuals and families who have been homeless.

Today, the Washington region stands on the brink of an impending surge in the number of residents with special housing needs. As the region’s population with special needs expands, growing numbers are likely to struggle to cover unaffordable costs for in-home care, and will face long waiting lists for publicly-funded services or supportive housing units, and become institutionalized unnecessarily, and even experience periods of homelessness. But if the region’s leaders begin to plan and work together now — in anticipation of the coming wave of special housing needs — they can expand the range of linked housing and service choices offered by the private sector, develop more effective public programs, and ensure that options are affordable for people of all incomes across the region.

-- Margery Austin Turner

Do you see affordable housing for people with special needs becoming an issue in Montgomery County? Or is the County already tackling the problem effectively?

To hear Turner speak more on this ver issue, come to the Montgomery County Planning Department's "Excellence in Planning Speaker" series, tonight, May 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Come Hear Margery Austin Turner Present: “Time is of the Essence: Housing for People with Special Needs”

A double crisis – housing those with special needs in the current housing economy. Margery Austin Turner, director of the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute, will present “Time is of the Essence: Housing for People with Special Needs” to the Planning Board on May 8 at 7:30. The public is welcome to attend and will have a chance to ask questions.

Commissioners Hanson and Bryant Suggest Need to Break the Mold with Housing Policy in Master Plans

On April 17, Montgomery County Planning Department staff presented a memo to the Planning Board which was intended to spark conversation about the relationship between master plans in the County and housing. In it, staff provided observations and recommendations related to housing in master plans as well as a review of the housing components and strategies in all master plans that have been approved and adopted since 1993.

During discussion, Commissioner Hanson echoed staff recommendations which called for a periodic review of how each master plan is doing, perhaps as part of the biennial growth policy review. He suggested an inventory and assessment of how housing objectives in Master Plans have been achieved in order to help inform future policy decisions.

Commissioner Bryant called for a potential corrective overhaul of master plans in the County, citing a lack of balance in where master plans have called for affordable housing. He suggested adaptive reuse of buildings as a potential source of affordable housing, and requested that staff look into this along with accessory dwelling units. He also referenced an apparent contradiction between how the County relies on developers to provide affordable housing through new development, while at the same time, eschewing development in the County. How should the County deal with the apparent contradiction of developer-supplied affordable housing in an environment that is shirking additional development?

To listen to the audio recording of this housing discussion, visit http://www.montgomeryplanningboard.org/meetings_archive/master_archive.shtm.

Cues from Miami

Can Montgomery County be as hot as Miami? How can we encourage better design in development? Miami is doing so through innovative zoning. As we begin a rewrite of our zoning code, we’ve invited Marina Khoury of one of the nation’s leading planning firm, Duany Plater-Zyberk, to describe Miami’s new zoning overhaul that promotes well-balanced neighborhoods and rich life quality.

On April 24th at the Montgomery County Planning Department, she presented “Miami of the 21st Century” as part of our 2008 "Excellence in Planning" speaker series. Watch the video of her presentation.

Planning for Housing

On Thursday, April 17, the Montgomery County Planning Board continues their discussion of the Housing Policy Element of the General Plan. The worksession will focus on the tretament of housing in master plans, including observations and recommendations by the Planning staff. Click here to read the staff report.

Housing Inventory Slideshow

This slideshow shows examples of the various types of housing information, such as housing foreclosures, housing values and lots sizes, the Planning Department is mapping and analyzing for the Housing Policy Element of the General Plan.

NOTE: To pause, just click on the pause button (second icon) at the bottom of the slideshow.

MPDU Program: We’re Doing Great, But We Can Do Better

On March 20, urban policy author and consultant, David Rusk spoke about affordable housing to an audience that included the Montgomery County Planning Board. Addressing a county that, in 1973, adopted one of the first—and arguably the most successful—inclusionary zoning programs in the country, he focused mainly on Montgomery County’s MPDU (moderately priced dwelling unit) program. He was persistently positive and supportive of the County’s efforts to address housing affordability thus far, but opened by saying that as one of the early pioneers of this program, mistakes were bound to be made. In commending the County on work to date, he also presented recommendations for improving the program by looking to other cities and counties that use mandatory inclusionary zoning. Out of the more than 400 cities and counties with mandatory inclusionary zoning, Rusk stated that of the 90,000 to 95,000 total inclusionary units, approximately 12,000 (roughly 1 out of 8) units were created in Montgomery County. Despite serving what he called “more extremely low income families” than any other inclusionary zoning program and having “the best urban government in America,” He highlighted room for improvement in the County.

In particular, he provided seven concrete recommendations for Montgomery County to improve its MPDU program, concluding that “You’re doing great, but you can do better”:
1. Revisit the 20-unit minimum for the MPDU program.
2. Provide a density bonus to all developers who are required to build MPDUs.
3. Eliminate payment in lieu of building affordable units.
4. Maintain every effort to get mixed income housing built onsite. If it must be done offsite, ensure that it is at least in the same elementary school attendance zone.
5. Revisit the set-aside percent for major rezoning.
6. Issue revenue bonds for the purchase of individual MPDUs.
7. Reanalyze the County’s workforce housing need.

One of the most interesting connections Rusk made was between housing policy and school policy, stating “housing policy is school policy.” He cited statistics that supported a direct correlation between mixed income communities and better school performance. In concluding, he recommended taking the payment in lieu of building affordable units off the table to ensure that mixed income communities get built.

In a county that ranked 18th out of the top 25 jurisdictions across the country for median rent in 2000, will Rusk’s seven recommendations for the MPDU program help ensure that Montgomery County remains affordable?

Updates to the General Plan: Continuing the Legacy of Quality Housing Policies in Montgomery County

On March 27, Montgomery County Planning Department staff presented recommendations to the Planning Board to update the General Plan’s housing policy strategies. Originally created in 1969, and amended in 1993, the General Plan sets forth broad goals and objectives to guide planning in the County. The recommendations staff presented today, which will eventually serve to amend the General Plan further, were intended to address changes the County has seen over the last 15 years.  In addition the staff report and presentation included discussion of case studies of innovative housing policies and programs across the country.

Staff applauded the policies adopted in the General Plan Refinement of 1993, calling them forward thinking and “ahead of their time.” Staff then presented new recommended strategies to add to the General Plan that address more current thinking in meeting the goals. Examples of such new strategies include those that focus on design excellence, workforce housing, and jobs/housing balance.

Staff proposed adding “workforce housing” language, which would better reflect some of the current housing issues affecting residents of Montgomery County, and which would also qualify the County for state workforce housing funding.  Staff also proposed including additional language about design. The Planning Board suggested including design as a new objective in the General Plan, which would then warrant more a comprehensive discussion about desired design outcomes and specific strategies to achieve such outcomes.

The issue of jobs/housing balance also sparked lively conversation. Commissioners Hanson, Bryant, and Robinson asked questions like: What part of our workforce are we not housing? Whose workforce are we housing?  What jobs/housing ratio is the County comfortable with? The General Plan should reflect the extent to which the policy goal is housing for all who work in Montgomery County or to find places for jobs for all who live here.  Chairman Hanson articulated that “we’re not on an island and we’re not fenced in… [Montgomery County’s] workforce comes from somewhere else or and also goes somewhere else, and we cannot ignore either component of that population.” The jobs/housing balance will also impact transportation systems, and the County should discuss housing and transportation goals in tandem.

Tell us about your situation—do you live and work in Montgomery County, or do you come into the county or leave the county for work?

Listen to this housing discussion.

The University of Maryland Addresses Affordable Housing & Innovative Design

The University of Maryland weighs in the nation’s concern about affordable housing with a groundbreaking exhibition, a lecture and a roundtable symposium.

Check out the “Affordable Housing: Designing an American Asset” at the UMd’s Kibel Gallery. Curated by UMd architecture professors, Ralph Bennett and Isabelle Gournay, the exhibition features selected projects from across the U.S. to serve as examples of innovative, well-designed and affordable housing. The Kibel Gallery is open, Monday  through Friday, between 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Then mark your calendar for two fascinating lectures. Michael P. Kelly, executive director of District of Columbia Housing Authority will speak on Friday, May 2, 6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m., at MRED Annual Lecture with a reception to follow. Kelly has garnered national acclaim for managing, developing and redeveloping affordable housing in San Francisco, New Orleans and Washington, DC.

The following morning,  May 3 at 9 a.m. – 2 p.m., UMD will host “Defining and Developing Affordable Housing for the 21^st Century”, a roundtable symposium with and complimentary lunch, focusing on the latest in policy, finance and development of work force housing, senior housing, military housing and public/private financing partnerships. Find out what works, what doesn’t and what’s next! The symposium is free, but you must RSVP for the luncheon buffet at vbaker@umd.edu by April 21, 2008.

Planning Board Reviewed County’s Housing Policies March 27

At its regular meeting on Thursday, March 27, the Montgomery County Planning Board reviewed Montgomery County’s two major housing policy documents. The Board discussed the housing policies in the General Plan (formally called General Plan Refinement of the Goals and Objectives of Montgomery County) last updated in 1997. The Board also reviewed the County’s housing policy adopted in 2001, entitled “Montgomery County – The Place to Call Home.”

The Board sets the stage for upcoming discussions about a variety of housing-related issues that will help identify how the Housing Policy Element of the General Plan should be updated. The staff report also includes material on innovative housing strategies around the country. View staff reports on housing strategies. Listen to the March 27 board discussion.