Tag: housing policy

Policy Priorities for 2025

Frederick County Affordable Housing Council

By Gary Bennett and Hugh Gordon


On March 10, Frederick County’s Affordable Housing Council (hereafter referred to as “the Council”) released its 2025 affordable housing policy priorities.

The Council advises Frederick city and county government officials on housing policy and advocates for safe, sanitary and affordable housing for all Frederick County lower- and middle-income households.

The policy priorities for 2025 do not take into consideration matters likely to be covered by Frederick County’s new housing needs assessment and strategic plan currently in the planning stages. The study is being conducted by TPMA Consultants and the county’s Division of Housing. Once the draft is presented for public comment, the Council will respond. Following final county approval of the study, the Council will incorporate recommendations from the study into its policy priorities for 2026.

The 2025 policy priorities outlined below are matters deemed important enough to go forward without waiting for completion of the housing needs assessment study.

  • Streamline Frederick County’s and the City of Frederick’s building permitting process.

At a September 2024 meeting hosted by the Council, non-profit and for-profit developers and builders indicated that the permitting process is overly cumbersome and costly. The Council has contacted city and county officials to establish a strategy and action plan to resolve permitting obstacles, working with the public sector and developer/builder stakeholders to address these matters with established timelines.

  • Encourage municipalities, the public and other stakeholders beyond the City of Frederick and Frederick County to develop relationships with the Council regarding housing policy best practices.

The Council will develop a strategy and action plan in the second quarter of 2025 to address specific municipalities at public forums. Independent of this effort, the Council will reach out to invite municipal officials, the public and stakeholders to monthly Council meetings.

  • Continue working with Frederick County and municipalities on implementation of area plans as part of the Livable Fredrick Master Plan.

As such, the Council will continue its active participation with the Housing Element Advisory Group and offer recommendations. It is also working with the county on attaining the goals set out in the 2023 county executive’s Housing and Quality of Life Transition Plan. 

  • Appoint a Council member or consultant to act as liaison with county and city legislative officials with a goal to accomplish the recommendations of the forthcoming Frederick County Housing Needs Assessment and Strategic Plan.

Hugh Gordon, chair of the Council, commented that accomplishing these priorities demonstrate a proactive effort on the part of the Council to address one of the greatest needs existing in the Frederick community: “The need for affecting implementation and the potential for assisting seniors, school teachers, police officers, firefighters, restaurant workers, and other vulnerable residents of Frederick County to achieve their dream of living in a safe, sanitary and affordable home.”

Historically, the Council has been quite successful in developing housing priorities and encouraging elected officials to give them fair consideration.

Last year, the Council was instrumental in advocating to update the city’s Moderately Priced Development Units (MPDU) ordinance. The ordinance now encourages increased development of affordable housing in the city by requiring developers to pay $2 per square foot for every unit in the development if they opt out of building the required number of MPDUs.

The Council also pushed for updating the 2016 Frederick County Affordable Housing Needs Assessment study to better reflect current housing and economic realities and to develop a strategic plan to address the findings. This project is now in the early planning stages.

Finally, the Council has helped institute the implementation of the City of Frederick’s rental registration and inspection program and encouraged municipalities in the county to allow construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs), many of which are doing that.

The Frederick County Affordable Housing Council meets the second Tuesday of each month at 2:30 pm at a location designated by the Council. Confirm meeting dates and location by checking https://www.frederickcountymd.gov/6371/Affordable-Housing-Council or by calling the Frederick County Division of Housing at 301-600-3518.   

The issues are difficult but the stakes are high for all of us. The Frederick County Affordable Housing Council invites you to participate.

Meetings are open to the public and public participation is highly encouraged. Agendas can be obtained at the website noted above. Public comment is welcome at all meetings.

Gary Bennett is a retired association executive with no stake in the housing market except for being a concerned citizen. Hugh Gordon is the association executive for the Frederick County Association of Realtors and has decades of experience as a mortgage banker. They are long-time Frederick County residents and members of Frederick County’s Affordable Housing Council.

Working to ensure everyone has a decent place to live

By Gary Bennett and Hugh Gordon

This article appears in the January 2024 issues of the Emmitsburg News-Journal, p 25, and Woodsboro-Walkersville News-Journal, page 21.

Among the many boards, commissions and councils serving Frederick city and county, there is one that advises on the charged issue of affordable housing.

Charged? Well, yes. It is hard to find another issue that elicits such visceral comments both for and against. Most folks support the availability of housing for those economically shut out of the market until it affects them directly. Everyone is for more affordable housing until they think it might affect their own property value or when construction is planned nearby. It is understandable.

That is the tightrope on which the Affordable Housing Council (AHC) is perched.

The AHC serves as Frederick County’s main forum to discuss affordable housing issues, is the main advocate for affordable, safe, and decent housing, supports affordable housing providers and their programs, and advises county and city governments on promising new and existing affordable housing laws and regulations. The council is comprised of appointed volunteers who care about affordable housing issues and have no personal stake in encouraging more affordable housing.

Position Statement of AHC

The Affordable Housing Council believes that:

  • All Frederick County residents deserve to live in safe, decent, and affordable housing that does not require more than one-third of their total monthly income to own or rent. 
  • County, state, and municipal governments should look for every opportunity to incentivize affordable housing options in land use, zoning, and development laws and regulations. 
  • All stakeholders – government entities, developers, builders, real estate firms, civic and business groups, and consumers of affordable housing – need to recognize that a lack of affordable housing is a real problem for all of us and should work together to find real solutions.
  • The lack of enough infrastructure to support increased housing is a real problem and should not be downplayed. Instead of punishing middle- and lower-class Americans, however, we must hold government accountable to proactively fund appropriate infrastructure, especially schools.

What is affordable housing?

The definition of affordable housing is not always accurately understood, especially in terms of today’s charged political discussion. To those with moderate to low incomes, affordable housing is usually defined as housing that requires one-third or less of their disposable income to afford. This includes rentals and owned homes. For these folks, there is not enough affordable housing to go around in Frederick County and in most parts of the U.S. In the affordable housing world, we are typically focused on the ALICE households, those who are Asset Limited, Income Constrained, and Employed. Basically, they are working citizens living paycheck to paycheck.

Policy Priorities of AHC

The Affordable Housing Council has been quite successful in developing housing priorities and encouraging elected officials to give them fair consideration. Indeed, both the city’s Board of Aldermen and the Frederick County Council, depend on the AHC to be non-staff housing experts. We are constantly looking for creative ideas to help increase our affordable housing stock.

Earlier this year, we recommended and were pleased when the Board of Aldermen approved the updated Moderately Priced Development Units (MPDU) ordinance. The ordinance encourages increased development of affordable housing in the city by requiring developers to pay $2 per square foot for every unit in the development if they opt out of building the required number of MPDUs. The fee had been flat but is now pegged to the size of the units in the development. The city is then charged with using the proceeds from the ordinance to fund affordable housing programs. The change in the city’s ordinance brings it into synch with the county’s MPDU ordinance.

Other AHC policy priorities we will advocate for in 2024 include:

  • Updating the 2016 Frederick County Affordable Housing Needs Assessment report to better reflect current housing and economic realities and to develop a strategic plan to address the findings. Such an assessment and plan would guide county and city programs and resources to better serve residents in need of affordable housing.
  • Increasing the portion of the county’s recordation tax revenue that is earmarked for the housing initiative fund (HIF) in one-time increments and consider permanent changes to the formula that funds the initiative. The HIF is used to provide resources that make home ownership accessible to county residents.
  • Supporting the implementation of the City of Frederick’s rental registration and inspection program. The program provides for protection of renters’ rights and landlord and tenant education on renters’ rights and best practices.
  • Advocating for the inclusion of several key policies in the City of Frederick’s form-based code initiative: implementing an affordable housing overlay, waiving development fees for projects that meet certain income requirements, allowing for more density and building height in designated areas and right-sizing parking requirements for new projects.
  • Streamlining Frederick County’s and the City of Frederick’s permitting processes to accelerate affordable housing projects. A particular need is to increase staff capacity and use a customer service-based approach to incentivize and encourage affordable housing projects. 
  • Encouraging the implementation of area plans as part of the Livable Frederick Master Plan to include priorities such as implementing an affordable housing overlay, allowing more density in designated areas, aligning available public transportation with affordable housing developments, and encouraging municipalities in the county to allow construction of accessory dwelling units (ADUs).
  • Waiving or deferring impact fees in Frederick County and the City of Frederick charged to buyers that meet income requirements for affordable housing purchases from a developer. Further, City of Frederick should formalize the waiving of property taxes and impact fees for developers while they are building or renovating homes for sale or rent to residents meeting income requirements for affordable housing.

Hugh Gordon serves as the current chair of the Affordable Housing Council. He commented, “The need for affecting implementation and the potential for assisting seniors, school teachers, policemen, firefighters, restaurant workers, and the most vulnerable residents of Frederick County is critically important.”

According to Malcolm Furgol, vice-chair of the AHC and policy committee chair, “These policy priorities build on past recommendations by the Affordable Housing Council and progress made by Frederick County and the City of Frederick towards realizing a positive environment for safe, stable and affordable housing for all residents.”

Invitation to Participate

The issues are difficult but the stakes are high for all of us. The Frederick County Affordable Housing Council invites you to participate.

AHC meets the second Tuesday of each month at 2:30 pm at a location designated by the Council. Confirm meeting dates and location by checking https://www.frederickcountymd.gov/6371/Affordable-Housing-Council or by calling the Frederick County Department of Housing and Community Development at 301-600-6091.   

Meetings are open to the public and public participation is highly encouraged. Agendas can be obtained at the website noted above. Public comment is welcome at all meetings.

If you are a Frederick County resident, a registered voter and wish to become a member of the AHC, send a letter of interest and resume to  fcgboards@FrederickCountyMD.gov. Call 301-600-1102 for more information. The County Executive makes all appointments subject to confirmation by the County Council.

The AHC may be comprised of as many as 13 voting members. We currently have seven members and two very good prospects. We are working hard to ensure affordable housing consumers such as teachers, police officers, and seniors are represented on the Council as well as members of industry, nonprofit organizations, and the public in general.

Gary Bennett is a retired association executive with no stake in the housing market except for being a concerned citizen. Hugh Gordon is the association executive for the Frederick Association of Realtors and has decades of experience as a mortgage banker. They are long-time Frederick residents and members of Frederick’s Affordable Housing Council.