housing
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Rezoned and Still Missing the Middle—Part 2: Dismantling the Colony
Read more: Rezoned and Still Missing the Middle—Part 2: Dismantling the ColonyIn 1632, King Charles I granted Lord Baltimore a charter to settle an area of new New World delineated by the Atlantic Ocean, 40th degree latitude, the Potomac River, and islands in the Chesapeake Bay. Charles named the area Maryland. Because Baltimore was chummy with Charles, he received very enticing terms of ownership. And we…
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Rezoned and Still Missing the Middle—Part 1: Cost Accounting
Read more: Rezoned and Still Missing the Middle—Part 1: Cost AccountingAnyone who cares about affordable housing supports rezoning—including President Biden’s administration and more recently the Senate’s bi-partisan ROAD to Housing Act. For my part, I’ve written dozens of articles in favor of blanket rezoning the acres upon acres of single-family lots throughout Montgomery County to increase the supply and lower the price. Unfortunately, recent experience…
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ZTA 25-02: A Small Step Toward a New Age in Affordable Housing
Read more: ZTA 25-02: A Small Step Toward a New Age in Affordable HousingThe last attempt at zoning reform was ZTA 19-01, introduced by former council member Hans Riemer. The highlight of that reform was a blanket approval allowing homeowners to build accessory dwelling units (ADU) on their properties (subject to constraints). That reform did almost nothing to alleviate the cost of housing, so council members Andrew Friedson…
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Affordable Housing Is Not a Public Benefit
Read more: Affordable Housing Is Not a Public BenefitIn a previous post we introduced Maria, an irresponsible alcoholic parent. Her sister Juanita is fortunately much more responsible. Juanita’s daughter broke a leg during hyperactive cheerleading tryouts, and the orthopædist recommended a waterproof cast. Juanita runs to the medical supply store and sees an item for $200—exactly the amount she budgeted for medical emergencies.…
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At a minimum, developers deserve a “thank you.”
Read more: At a minimum, developers deserve a “thank you.”Mandy enters the Gaithersburg My Organic Market and buys a bunch of fresh, locally sourced broccoli (crowns only). She goes to the cashier, effects payment, then walks up to the on-duty manager and snaps, “You manipulative wheeler-dealer, you should be ashamed!” Next, Mandy drives to Wonderland Books in Bethesda where she picks up the book…
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Zoning Change Proposal Impacts Only 55% of County Council
Read more: Zoning Change Proposal Impacts Only 55% of County CouncilAs the county holds listening sessions and reviews a proposal put forward by the Montgomery County Planning Board, it is important to see how these changes might impact the County Council members. Shockingly, 45% of the current county council will be excluded from any direct impact from these zoning changes. The proposal recommends these changes:…
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The Limits of Affordable Housing Initiatives—Part 2
Read more: The Limits of Affordable Housing Initiatives—Part 2Part 1 of this series summarized a few of the thoughts (out of many) presented by DC affordable-housing developer Patrick McAnaney in his extremely comprehensive series about affordable housing. We learn from McAnaney that zoning has a limited impact on the availability of affordable housing, because other factors are in play that are beyond the…
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The Limits of Affordable Housing Initiatives—Part 1
Read more: The Limits of Affordable Housing Initiatives—Part 1Today I rejoice, because I was proven wrong by someone with more wisdom and experience than I. Moments like that are as humbling as they are liberating. I’ve written quite a few posts about affordable housing, and my claim has been that the way to achieve an inventory of affordable housing is to re-zone. Throw…
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So You’re Saying It Can Be Done? Contrary to MoCo’s Tax-Hiking CE and County Council, a Midwest Town Hasn’t Charged Property Tax in 37 Years
Read more: So You’re Saying It Can Be Done? Contrary to MoCo’s Tax-Hiking CE and County Council, a Midwest Town Hasn’t Charged Property Tax in 37 YearsInteresting story today that caught our eye, this one from Realtor.com in their “trends” post: Per this writer Julie Gerstein for Realtor.com, it sounds like a town in Missouri outside of St. Louis is doing just fine for its residents — without levying a property tax at all. Who knew? Well, some of us did. …
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MoCo Bringing Up the Rear in Housing
Read more: MoCo Bringing Up the Rear in HousingSince elected officials harp on and on about the housing crisis in Montgomery County I was surprised to find these recent area stats when looking through Reventure App. First up is the for sale inventory. This metric shows the number of available listings on the market. You will see in looking at the map that…