A recent report from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development shows that increasing numbers of the nation's poor are spending more of their income on rent while also waiting longer for federal subsidies. The report reflects the worsening crisis in the supply of affordable housing, a shortage that is certainly being felt in Baltimore.
Steps are being taken here to deal with the problem, but far more needs to be done.
Nearly 6 million households nationwide met HUD's definition of worst-case housing needs in 2005 (the latest available data), meaning that those families and individuals made less than half of an area's median income, received no rental assistance and paid 50 percent or more of their monthly income for rent or lived in substandard housing. The number had increased by 817,000 households since HUD's last tally, in 2003, a 16 percent jump.
A bill passed recently by the House of Representatives' financial services committee could help. It would establish a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund aiming to give states and localities up to $1 billion a year to produce, rehabilitate and preserve 1.5 million housing units for low-income families in the next decade. It's a worthy idea, but it's also been on the drawing boards for several years. Congress should push for affordable-housing relief with more urgency.
In the meantime, cities like Baltimore cannot wait and need to act on their own. From 2000 to 2005, housing prices in the city doubled while wages increased only 19 percent (a disturbing trend reflected nationwide in the HUD report). A 2005 analysis of the rental market found a shortfall of nearly 26,000 affordable units for households making less than half of the area median income, and nearly 45,000 units for households making less than 80 percent of area median income.
The City Council has passed an inclusionary zoning law that requires developers receiving large city subsidies to set aside 20 percent of units for affordable housing. It has also created an affordable-housing fund, putting in nearly $60 million over multiple years to increase the supply of affordable units. Still needed is a more comprehensive and coherent plan that should include even more investment of city dollars and a greater commitment to develop and restore more affordable units as well as provide more housing vouchers for low-income families.
Baltimore has taken some important steps, and for the next fiscal year the city is slated to get some additional federal funding. But a long-term shortfall in federal housing dollars also needs to be reversed, so that Baltimore and other cities don't have to run so much harder and faster to get ahead of the affordable-housing crisis. (baltimoresun.com)
Showing posts with label affordable housing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label affordable housing. Show all posts
Friday, August 17, 2007
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
Jury awards $4 million in lead case
Damages could be reduced under state-cap law, attorney for city housing authority says.
A city jury has found that the Housing Authority of Baltimore City should pay $4 million in damages to two siblings poisoned by lead paint in their publicly owned rowhouse in the 1980s.
The verdict - issued Thursday - directed $2.5 million to Joseph Avery Jr., 23, of the 3000 block of Rosedale Court and $1.5 million to his sister, Lisa Avery, 21, of the 1700 block of McCulloh St.
The family filed suit against the housing authority in 2005.
The damages could be reduced to a maximum of $350,000 for each sibling under the state payment caps in place at the time they were tested for lead poisoning, said J. Marks Moore III, the attorney for the housing authority's insurance company. The city may appeal the verdict.
But Bruce H. Powell, the Averys' attorney, said he plans on challenging the state cap in a post-trial hearing Aug. 29.
"You have a right to a jury trial, and you have a right to what the jury awards you," Powell said. "The jury thought that they were compensating these people in a way that was fair, and that's not the case."
Lead poisoning, which often occurs when children ingest chipped household paint, can cause mental problems, including cognitive deficits and aggressive behavior.
At the four-day trial, a vocational rehabilitation expert testified that the Avery siblings show symptoms of lead poisoning. Both were in special education, and neither earned a high school diploma.
Last year, 1,274 children in Maryland had lead poisoning, according to statistics from the Maryland Department of the Environment.
That figure includes 936 newly reported cases, 573 of which occurred in Baltimore.
As more research has emerged highlighting effects of lead poisoning, the amount in damages paid by property owners has increased, Moore said.
Since the early 1990s, Moore has handled at least 200 lead poisoning cases for the housing authority, with 10 reaching trial. When he started, a typical verdict ordered $200,000 in damage payments, he said.
"Now, you see just about all of them in the millions," he said. "They really don't have a basis in relation to the underlying facts of the case. I think they're excessive."
The housing authority deferred questions about its lead poisoning cases to Moore.
Ruth Ann Norton, executive director of Baltimore's Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, said that most current cases of childhood lead poisoning can be blamed on private landlords rather than public housing.
Many city houses built through the 1950s included lead paint. Since it was banned nationwide in 1978, the city has worked to repair lead-tainted houses it owns and reach out to poisoned children, Norton said.
"There has been much progress made there in the intervening 20 years, and so a child living in city-owned housing today would have hopefully a much different experience," she said.
The Averys' mother, Trina Ashley, moved into a Gilmor Homes rowhouse on Bakbury Court in 1984, shortly before giving birth to Joseph. The housing authority had built the home in 1940 with specifications that indicated that lead paint was used.
While living in the home, Ashley repeatedly complained about flaking lead paint, Powell said. In 1986 and 1987, the children were tested for lead and found to have levels that were acceptable at the time but later considered poisonous by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards.
In 1988, the Health Department tested the home for chipped lead paint and found it in five locations.
The only location where the lead concentration exceeded acceptable amounts was the front door, and whether the now-deceased surveyor's report indicated lead had been found in the other locations was a trial issue.
A month after the house was tested, the family moved. (baltimoresun.com)
A city jury has found that the Housing Authority of Baltimore City should pay $4 million in damages to two siblings poisoned by lead paint in their publicly owned rowhouse in the 1980s.
The verdict - issued Thursday - directed $2.5 million to Joseph Avery Jr., 23, of the 3000 block of Rosedale Court and $1.5 million to his sister, Lisa Avery, 21, of the 1700 block of McCulloh St.
The family filed suit against the housing authority in 2005.
The damages could be reduced to a maximum of $350,000 for each sibling under the state payment caps in place at the time they were tested for lead poisoning, said J. Marks Moore III, the attorney for the housing authority's insurance company. The city may appeal the verdict.
But Bruce H. Powell, the Averys' attorney, said he plans on challenging the state cap in a post-trial hearing Aug. 29.
"You have a right to a jury trial, and you have a right to what the jury awards you," Powell said. "The jury thought that they were compensating these people in a way that was fair, and that's not the case."
Lead poisoning, which often occurs when children ingest chipped household paint, can cause mental problems, including cognitive deficits and aggressive behavior.
At the four-day trial, a vocational rehabilitation expert testified that the Avery siblings show symptoms of lead poisoning. Both were in special education, and neither earned a high school diploma.
Last year, 1,274 children in Maryland had lead poisoning, according to statistics from the Maryland Department of the Environment.
That figure includes 936 newly reported cases, 573 of which occurred in Baltimore.
As more research has emerged highlighting effects of lead poisoning, the amount in damages paid by property owners has increased, Moore said.
Since the early 1990s, Moore has handled at least 200 lead poisoning cases for the housing authority, with 10 reaching trial. When he started, a typical verdict ordered $200,000 in damage payments, he said.
"Now, you see just about all of them in the millions," he said. "They really don't have a basis in relation to the underlying facts of the case. I think they're excessive."
The housing authority deferred questions about its lead poisoning cases to Moore.
Ruth Ann Norton, executive director of Baltimore's Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, said that most current cases of childhood lead poisoning can be blamed on private landlords rather than public housing.
Many city houses built through the 1950s included lead paint. Since it was banned nationwide in 1978, the city has worked to repair lead-tainted houses it owns and reach out to poisoned children, Norton said.
"There has been much progress made there in the intervening 20 years, and so a child living in city-owned housing today would have hopefully a much different experience," she said.
The Averys' mother, Trina Ashley, moved into a Gilmor Homes rowhouse on Bakbury Court in 1984, shortly before giving birth to Joseph. The housing authority had built the home in 1940 with specifications that indicated that lead paint was used.
While living in the home, Ashley repeatedly complained about flaking lead paint, Powell said. In 1986 and 1987, the children were tested for lead and found to have levels that were acceptable at the time but later considered poisonous by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention standards.
In 1988, the Health Department tested the home for chipped lead paint and found it in five locations.
The only location where the lead concentration exceeded acceptable amounts was the front door, and whether the now-deceased surveyor's report indicated lead had been found in the other locations was a trial issue.
A month after the house was tested, the family moved. (baltimoresun.com)
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Home prices up, but sales slump may linger
The real estate slump in Baltimore County could drag through 2008 and pull more house prices down with it, local market-watchers warn.
The number of houses sold across the county this June fell 17 percent below sales in June 2006, according to statistics released by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, a Rockville firm that tracks real estate sales.
The total dollar value of homes sold dropped 14 percent below June 2006 sales while the time it took to sell a house jumped 71 percent from 42 days to 72 days, the firm reported.
The average price of houses sold in Baltimore County, however, increased 3.5 percent to $326,744.
But county real estate agents warn buyers not to hang their hopes on that thin, silver lining. Around the county, some house prices have already dropped.
Prices in northwest Baltimore County have been flat since last summer and now "prices definitely are coming down, but they're not plunging," said Nnaemeka Chima, broker with the Pikesville-based real estate company Chima Group. The average time to sell a house in the northwestern part of the county, he added, now tops three months.
Marc Witman, a former president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors and a principle with Yerman Witman Gaines & Garceau Realty in Baltimore, said he sees particular weakness in Pikesville and Owings Mills, where a large inventory of houses is on the market and many of those houses are similar or nearly identical.
It's a dilemma with which Owings Mills homeowner Jonathan Redley is all too familiar.
When he put his Pleasant Walk town house in Owings Mills on the market April 1, Redley knew not to anticipate a quick sale. But he wasn't expecting to go four full months without a single offer.
"The house shows beautifully. We get great compliments after every showing and we have two to three showings every week," he said.
Redley and his wife have cut their asking price from $265,000 to $260,000, sweetened the pot with a home warranty and are now considering offering to cover some of the buyer's closing costs. But there are six other nearly identical town houses up for sale in Pleasant Walk and dozens more town houses on the market just in Owings Mills.
"So buyers can afford to be very choosy," Redley said.
Sometimes a buyer's choice, he said, is determined by such fine points as which house has the nicer bathtub.
Across the county, more than 4,200 homes were up for sale at the end of June.
Several factors have created a tougher market for house sellers. Double-digit price hikes in recent years placed many houses outside the average buyer's price range. Meanwhile, this year's wave of foreclosures has prompted some lending institutions to stop offering subprime mortgages and other unconventional loans that had enabled moderate-income buyers to purchase a house.
Those factors could force more sellers to trim their asking price, Chima and Witman said.
"This is economics 101. Sellers for the most part have not yet gotten the idea that they need to be more price-sensitive because buyers are very much more price-sensitive and value-oriented than they have been in the last few years," Witman said.
Many sellers are having difficulty realizing they can't follow a recent practice of pricing their house several thousand dollars above the most recent sale in the neighborhood, Chima said.
"It can be very humbling when you realize the boom is over and you've missed it," he said.
Chima says the region's current real estate market is a normal, stable market. Unique and top-quality houses are still selling quickly for high prices. Chima added, however, that he doesn't expect to see prices rise again until the summer of 2009.
But Redley said there is an upside to the current market.
When Redley and his wife bought their Pleasant Walk town house in the hot market of 2005, they had to jump at the opportunity and offer above asking price to beat out competing bidders.
Now the couple, who are expecting their first baby, are shopping for a single-family home. They've found three or four Owings Mills houses they like, and those properties aren't selling either. So when they're ready to make an offer, Redley said, he expects he'll be able to go back to the same homes and have the luxury of negotiating a good price. (owingsmillstimes.com)
The number of houses sold across the county this June fell 17 percent below sales in June 2006, according to statistics released by Metropolitan Regional Information Systems, a Rockville firm that tracks real estate sales.
The total dollar value of homes sold dropped 14 percent below June 2006 sales while the time it took to sell a house jumped 71 percent from 42 days to 72 days, the firm reported.
The average price of houses sold in Baltimore County, however, increased 3.5 percent to $326,744.
But county real estate agents warn buyers not to hang their hopes on that thin, silver lining. Around the county, some house prices have already dropped.
Prices in northwest Baltimore County have been flat since last summer and now "prices definitely are coming down, but they're not plunging," said Nnaemeka Chima, broker with the Pikesville-based real estate company Chima Group. The average time to sell a house in the northwestern part of the county, he added, now tops three months.
Marc Witman, a former president of the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors and a principle with Yerman Witman Gaines & Garceau Realty in Baltimore, said he sees particular weakness in Pikesville and Owings Mills, where a large inventory of houses is on the market and many of those houses are similar or nearly identical.
It's a dilemma with which Owings Mills homeowner Jonathan Redley is all too familiar.
When he put his Pleasant Walk town house in Owings Mills on the market April 1, Redley knew not to anticipate a quick sale. But he wasn't expecting to go four full months without a single offer.
"The house shows beautifully. We get great compliments after every showing and we have two to three showings every week," he said.
Redley and his wife have cut their asking price from $265,000 to $260,000, sweetened the pot with a home warranty and are now considering offering to cover some of the buyer's closing costs. But there are six other nearly identical town houses up for sale in Pleasant Walk and dozens more town houses on the market just in Owings Mills.
"So buyers can afford to be very choosy," Redley said.
Sometimes a buyer's choice, he said, is determined by such fine points as which house has the nicer bathtub.
Across the county, more than 4,200 homes were up for sale at the end of June.
Several factors have created a tougher market for house sellers. Double-digit price hikes in recent years placed many houses outside the average buyer's price range. Meanwhile, this year's wave of foreclosures has prompted some lending institutions to stop offering subprime mortgages and other unconventional loans that had enabled moderate-income buyers to purchase a house.
Those factors could force more sellers to trim their asking price, Chima and Witman said.
"This is economics 101. Sellers for the most part have not yet gotten the idea that they need to be more price-sensitive because buyers are very much more price-sensitive and value-oriented than they have been in the last few years," Witman said.
Many sellers are having difficulty realizing they can't follow a recent practice of pricing their house several thousand dollars above the most recent sale in the neighborhood, Chima said.
"It can be very humbling when you realize the boom is over and you've missed it," he said.
Chima says the region's current real estate market is a normal, stable market. Unique and top-quality houses are still selling quickly for high prices. Chima added, however, that he doesn't expect to see prices rise again until the summer of 2009.
But Redley said there is an upside to the current market.
When Redley and his wife bought their Pleasant Walk town house in the hot market of 2005, they had to jump at the opportunity and offer above asking price to beat out competing bidders.
Now the couple, who are expecting their first baby, are shopping for a single-family home. They've found three or four Owings Mills houses they like, and those properties aren't selling either. So when they're ready to make an offer, Redley said, he expects he'll be able to go back to the same homes and have the luxury of negotiating a good price. (owingsmillstimes.com)
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Officials decry housing-bias suit: Queen Anne's said to block affordable units
Political leaders of Queen Anne's County said yesterday they are outraged by allegations in a federal lawsuit that accuses them of blocking affordable housing and discriminating against minorities, calling the legal action "cynical and inflammatory."
In a prepared statement, the five county commissioners said they are dealing with limited water and sewer service and that they do support "moderately priced" homes. In March, they noted, they tried to hasten completion of a low- and moderate-income development on Kent Island.
Dr. Eric S. Wargotz, commission president, said in the statement that accusations that the county is "insensitive to the needs of African Americans is insulting and wrong."
On Friday, lawyers for developer John C. Stamato, Enterprise Homes Inc. and another builder, and two black people who said they cannot afford a home in the county, sued the commissioners in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. They claim the county's delays on the 218-home Sayer's Choice project in Grasonville amount to a "pattern of discrimination against minorities" that violates federal housing rules.
Specifically, the plaintiffs question the county's refusal in May to move up consideration of allowing sewer and water access.
"This is just a ploy to get water and sewer," said Courtney M. Billups, a lawyer and the only black member of the commission. "Maybe I would like a condo on the Baltimore waterfront, but I can't afford it. I don't have standing to sue Baltimore City."
Anti-growth sentiment is rampant in Queen Anne's County, where pressure to develop is high and voters have tossed out six commission members over the issue since 2002.
Commissioner Gene M. Ransom III, who was accused in the lawsuit of expressing concern about affordable housing being built near his Grasonville home, denied all the allegations yesterday.
A lawyer for the county's planning commission said in prepared remarks that Enterprise Homes Inc., which supports affordable housing across the country, has not been part of Stamato's application.
Stamato has sought to build 168 single-family homes and townhouses on 116 acres in Grasonville, with 10 percent, or 17 units for moderately priced housing. He donated an additional 28 acres to Enterprise Homes Inc. for 50 affordably priced units. (baltimoresun.com)
In a prepared statement, the five county commissioners said they are dealing with limited water and sewer service and that they do support "moderately priced" homes. In March, they noted, they tried to hasten completion of a low- and moderate-income development on Kent Island.
Dr. Eric S. Wargotz, commission president, said in the statement that accusations that the county is "insensitive to the needs of African Americans is insulting and wrong."
On Friday, lawyers for developer John C. Stamato, Enterprise Homes Inc. and another builder, and two black people who said they cannot afford a home in the county, sued the commissioners in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. They claim the county's delays on the 218-home Sayer's Choice project in Grasonville amount to a "pattern of discrimination against minorities" that violates federal housing rules.
Specifically, the plaintiffs question the county's refusal in May to move up consideration of allowing sewer and water access.
"This is just a ploy to get water and sewer," said Courtney M. Billups, a lawyer and the only black member of the commission. "Maybe I would like a condo on the Baltimore waterfront, but I can't afford it. I don't have standing to sue Baltimore City."
Anti-growth sentiment is rampant in Queen Anne's County, where pressure to develop is high and voters have tossed out six commission members over the issue since 2002.
Commissioner Gene M. Ransom III, who was accused in the lawsuit of expressing concern about affordable housing being built near his Grasonville home, denied all the allegations yesterday.
A lawyer for the county's planning commission said in prepared remarks that Enterprise Homes Inc., which supports affordable housing across the country, has not been part of Stamato's application.
Stamato has sought to build 168 single-family homes and townhouses on 116 acres in Grasonville, with 10 percent, or 17 units for moderately priced housing. He donated an additional 28 acres to Enterprise Homes Inc. for 50 affordably priced units. (baltimoresun.com)
Monday, July 23, 2007
Developer and four others sue Queen Anne's, claiming bias
Builder says board caused project delays, violated federal law
Six years ago, developer John C. Stamato acquired 144 acres in Grasonville with the idea of building houses, setting aside a portion for the middle class. Instead of erecting 218 homes that only a fraction of Marylanders could afford, he later proposed breaking off dozens of those units and listing them for less than $150,000 apiece.
Stamato said he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars playing by the county's development rules to build in a designated growth area.
But when the county's commissioners, under pressure to rein in growth, voted unanimously in May to indefinitely delay access to water and sewer service, he and several supporters had had enough.
Stamato has been joined in the lawsuit by two builders, including Maryland-based Enterprise Homes Inc., an arm of the Rouse-founded organization that supports affordable-housing interests across the United States. Two African-American residents who say they cannot afford to buy a home in Queen Anne's County have also signed on as plaintiffs: a United Methodist minister in Grasonville and a Denton resident who works in Annapolis.
They are seeking unspecified damages and to force the commissioners to reconsider their stance on the project, which abuts a much-disputed parcel that the state and county intend to buy for $5 million and preserve.
Midgett S. Parker Jr., an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said this case speaks to a "lack of political will to provide an adequate supply of affordable housing for the next generation."
Parker noted that while Queen Anne's County passed a 2003 law to require developers of large projects to set aside 10 percent of their units as "moderately priced," not one has been built there.
Among the allegations listed in the 22-page lawsuit, it said that Gene M. Ransom III, one of Queen Anne's County's commissioners, voiced "concern" that the affordable housing would be near his home.
Eric S. Wargotz, president of the board of commissioners, declined to comment last night because he had not seen the lawsuit. Fellow commissioners Courtney M. Billups, Paul L. Gunther, Carol R. Fordonsky and Ransom did not return calls for comment yesterday.
Anti-growth sentiment is high in Queen Anne's, where voters ousted three incumbents last year, and three others in 2002, over the issue. Since 1999, the county has granted no more than 440 permits a year for new homes on vacant lots. That number dropped to 163 in 2005 and 146 in 2006. Based on numbers from the first five months of 2007, the county is on pace to approve 103 permits for such housing.
Legal and housing experts in the state said they were unaware of similar legal action brought elsewhere against a municipality in Maryland and said the plaintiffs' argument is an unusual twist on how federal housing rules are enforced. Government officials typically rely on the rules to bring action against developers who illegally discriminate against prospective homeowners and renters, they said.
"I think it's a fairly novel idea, and it's about time," said Barbara Bezdek, a professor of law at the University of Maryland who has raised such a theory in class.
Housing experts accuse many local governments of dragging their feet on aggressive affordable-housing initiatives, and they expect more cases brought by developers and residents against local governments.
"The sides have flip-flopped," said Anirban Basu, head of the Sage Policy Group, an economic consulting firm in Baltimore. "There was a time that government induced developers to provide more affordably priced, or work force, housing. Today, it is the developer that's pushing on local government to allow for such housing. ... It's the market that's trying to address this public-policy issue, not the government."
According to a study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the median price for a home in Queen Anne's County has jumped from $166,900 in 2000 to $353,500 in 2005.
With the median housing price in the Baltimore region more than $310,000, housing advocates argue that the lack of affordable housing is slamming the door on homeownership - or forcing thousands to flee to distant exurbs and make unreasonably long commutes to reach their jobs and see their families.
"Buying a home in Maryland these days is very difficult," said Jonette Hahn, treasurer of the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, an advocacy group. "Finding a home for under $200,000 is very hard to do. Most first-time homebuyers are being shut out."
Stamato has planned to build 168 single-family homes and townhouses on 116 acres, with 10 percent, or 17 units, set aside under county rules for moderately priced housing. He donated an additional 28 acres to Enterprise Homes Inc. to build 50 more affordably priced units.
Queen Anne's County designated the parcel as a growth area in 1998 and, until two years ago, it was slated for immediate water and sewer access. But the commissioners voted in 2005 to hold off service for 20 years. They shortened that delay in 2006 to between four and 10 years. They refused to further expedite consideration May 8 - though a $32 million sewage plant opened in Grasonville a week later, according to the complaint.
Just southeast of the parcel is a 270-acre tract that the state and county hope to use as recreational space; the land deal turned contentious because the $5 million purchase price is nearly $1 million more than the average of two appraisals.
Yesterday's lawsuit caught the attention of Carl O. Snowden, director of the Office of Civil Rights for the state attorney general. He said of the county's growth practices: "They aren't opposed to all development. They are opposed to a certain type of development."
The backlash against high-density housing has been severe, as communities contend that such housing stock will further crowd schools and roads and harm the environment. There's also a stigma associated to affordably priced, or work force, housing, advocates say, as established communities worry about how their quality of life and property values will be affected by new residences of less affluence.
"Local governments are controlled by the people who vote them into office," said Hahn. "I think it's a sad reality that property owners don't want to increase the number of low-income people into their communities. There's a fear about the change in demographics. ... We need homes for people at all economic levels."
Even for lawmakers who take a fair-minded approach to allowing affordable housing, Basu said, "it's more tempting for them to embrace anti-growth stances." (baltimoresun.com)
Six years ago, developer John C. Stamato acquired 144 acres in Grasonville with the idea of building houses, setting aside a portion for the middle class. Instead of erecting 218 homes that only a fraction of Marylanders could afford, he later proposed breaking off dozens of those units and listing them for less than $150,000 apiece.
Stamato said he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars playing by the county's development rules to build in a designated growth area.
But when the county's commissioners, under pressure to rein in growth, voted unanimously in May to indefinitely delay access to water and sewer service, he and several supporters had had enough.
Stamato has been joined in the lawsuit by two builders, including Maryland-based Enterprise Homes Inc., an arm of the Rouse-founded organization that supports affordable-housing interests across the United States. Two African-American residents who say they cannot afford to buy a home in Queen Anne's County have also signed on as plaintiffs: a United Methodist minister in Grasonville and a Denton resident who works in Annapolis.
They are seeking unspecified damages and to force the commissioners to reconsider their stance on the project, which abuts a much-disputed parcel that the state and county intend to buy for $5 million and preserve.
Midgett S. Parker Jr., an attorney representing the plaintiffs, said this case speaks to a "lack of political will to provide an adequate supply of affordable housing for the next generation."
Parker noted that while Queen Anne's County passed a 2003 law to require developers of large projects to set aside 10 percent of their units as "moderately priced," not one has been built there.
Among the allegations listed in the 22-page lawsuit, it said that Gene M. Ransom III, one of Queen Anne's County's commissioners, voiced "concern" that the affordable housing would be near his home.
Eric S. Wargotz, president of the board of commissioners, declined to comment last night because he had not seen the lawsuit. Fellow commissioners Courtney M. Billups, Paul L. Gunther, Carol R. Fordonsky and Ransom did not return calls for comment yesterday.
Anti-growth sentiment is high in Queen Anne's, where voters ousted three incumbents last year, and three others in 2002, over the issue. Since 1999, the county has granted no more than 440 permits a year for new homes on vacant lots. That number dropped to 163 in 2005 and 146 in 2006. Based on numbers from the first five months of 2007, the county is on pace to approve 103 permits for such housing.
Legal and housing experts in the state said they were unaware of similar legal action brought elsewhere against a municipality in Maryland and said the plaintiffs' argument is an unusual twist on how federal housing rules are enforced. Government officials typically rely on the rules to bring action against developers who illegally discriminate against prospective homeowners and renters, they said.
"I think it's a fairly novel idea, and it's about time," said Barbara Bezdek, a professor of law at the University of Maryland who has raised such a theory in class.
Housing experts accuse many local governments of dragging their feet on aggressive affordable-housing initiatives, and they expect more cases brought by developers and residents against local governments.
"The sides have flip-flopped," said Anirban Basu, head of the Sage Policy Group, an economic consulting firm in Baltimore. "There was a time that government induced developers to provide more affordably priced, or work force, housing. Today, it is the developer that's pushing on local government to allow for such housing. ... It's the market that's trying to address this public-policy issue, not the government."
According to a study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the median price for a home in Queen Anne's County has jumped from $166,900 in 2000 to $353,500 in 2005.
With the median housing price in the Baltimore region more than $310,000, housing advocates argue that the lack of affordable housing is slamming the door on homeownership - or forcing thousands to flee to distant exurbs and make unreasonably long commutes to reach their jobs and see their families.
"Buying a home in Maryland these days is very difficult," said Jonette Hahn, treasurer of the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, an advocacy group. "Finding a home for under $200,000 is very hard to do. Most first-time homebuyers are being shut out."
Stamato has planned to build 168 single-family homes and townhouses on 116 acres, with 10 percent, or 17 units, set aside under county rules for moderately priced housing. He donated an additional 28 acres to Enterprise Homes Inc. to build 50 more affordably priced units.
Queen Anne's County designated the parcel as a growth area in 1998 and, until two years ago, it was slated for immediate water and sewer access. But the commissioners voted in 2005 to hold off service for 20 years. They shortened that delay in 2006 to between four and 10 years. They refused to further expedite consideration May 8 - though a $32 million sewage plant opened in Grasonville a week later, according to the complaint.
Just southeast of the parcel is a 270-acre tract that the state and county hope to use as recreational space; the land deal turned contentious because the $5 million purchase price is nearly $1 million more than the average of two appraisals.
Yesterday's lawsuit caught the attention of Carl O. Snowden, director of the Office of Civil Rights for the state attorney general. He said of the county's growth practices: "They aren't opposed to all development. They are opposed to a certain type of development."
The backlash against high-density housing has been severe, as communities contend that such housing stock will further crowd schools and roads and harm the environment. There's also a stigma associated to affordably priced, or work force, housing, advocates say, as established communities worry about how their quality of life and property values will be affected by new residences of less affluence.
"Local governments are controlled by the people who vote them into office," said Hahn. "I think it's a sad reality that property owners don't want to increase the number of low-income people into their communities. There's a fear about the change in demographics. ... We need homes for people at all economic levels."
Even for lawmakers who take a fair-minded approach to allowing affordable housing, Basu said, "it's more tempting for them to embrace anti-growth stances." (baltimoresun.com)
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Washington, DC: Mayor Hopes for $117 Million Yearly
Mayor Adrian M. Fenty said on Monday that he wants to allocate $117 million in new revenue every year as part of a plan to protect and create affordable housing in the District.
According to an outline of the initiative, which Fenty (D) presented to more than 500 Washington Interfaith Network members, 30 percent of new housing units built on city-owned land must be affordable for low-income residents.
The plan calls for a partnership between the city and the interfaith network to produce 5,000 homes as part of a network project that creates low-income housing. The houses would be built in transitional neighborhoods such as Columbia Heights, Brightwood, Deanwood, Bellevue and Washington Highlands, said Sean Madigan, communications director for the office of the deputy mayor for planning and economic development.
"This is very aggressive, but a lot of people say the city is really facing an affordable housing crisis, so steps like this are necessary," Madigan said.
The Rev. Christine Wiley of Covenant Baptist Church in Southwest, which was the host of the event, praised Fenty's proposal. "I usually come up here shaking my finger at somebody," she said.
The District lost 312 affordable units between 2001 and 2005, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Fenty's announcement comes a year after he pledged at a meeting with interfaith network leaders that he would implement the group's Vote Neighborhoods First agenda, which asked for $1 billion to be committed to neighborhood revitalization.
Many D.C. residents have seen available housing transformed into high-priced condominiums. Patricia Moten, an interfaith network member who is minister at First Rock Baptist Church, said the steady gentrification is pushing low-income residents out of their homes and into relatives' crowded residences.
Brenda Jordan, president of the Pleasant Park Tenant Association, said the tenants in her building plan to buy it in October. Their company representatives told them last year that they had received an offer to turn the property into condominiums.
"The majority of the people here, we're born and raised here, and we want to stay here," she said. "I know I do." (WashingtonPost.com)
According to an outline of the initiative, which Fenty (D) presented to more than 500 Washington Interfaith Network members, 30 percent of new housing units built on city-owned land must be affordable for low-income residents.
The plan calls for a partnership between the city and the interfaith network to produce 5,000 homes as part of a network project that creates low-income housing. The houses would be built in transitional neighborhoods such as Columbia Heights, Brightwood, Deanwood, Bellevue and Washington Highlands, said Sean Madigan, communications director for the office of the deputy mayor for planning and economic development.
"This is very aggressive, but a lot of people say the city is really facing an affordable housing crisis, so steps like this are necessary," Madigan said.
The Rev. Christine Wiley of Covenant Baptist Church in Southwest, which was the host of the event, praised Fenty's proposal. "I usually come up here shaking my finger at somebody," she said.
The District lost 312 affordable units between 2001 and 2005, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
Fenty's announcement comes a year after he pledged at a meeting with interfaith network leaders that he would implement the group's Vote Neighborhoods First agenda, which asked for $1 billion to be committed to neighborhood revitalization.
Many D.C. residents have seen available housing transformed into high-priced condominiums. Patricia Moten, an interfaith network member who is minister at First Rock Baptist Church, said the steady gentrification is pushing low-income residents out of their homes and into relatives' crowded residences.
Brenda Jordan, president of the Pleasant Park Tenant Association, said the tenants in her building plan to buy it in October. Their company representatives told them last year that they had received an offer to turn the property into condominiums.
"The majority of the people here, we're born and raised here, and we want to stay here," she said. "I know I do." (WashingtonPost.com)
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
A place to live
The bill passed on 06/11/07 by Baltimore's City Council that will require developers to include a percentage of affordable housing units in new developments is a welcome strategy to provide more opportunities for low-income residents to remain in the city. Similar policies have been successfully implemented in Montgomery and other counties.
This major step forward should work in Baltimore - so long as it dovetails with the city's efforts to convert vacant houses into viable places to live.
Like many surrounding areas, Baltimore's housing prices have climbed significantly in recent years. But what constitutes welcome rising property values for some means unaffordable housing for others, and soaring prices have pushed out many low-income residents. City officials, housing advocates, developers and others have tried for about two years to come up with a workable response.
This bill represents a reasonable compromise. By the beginning of 2009, it will require developers who receive tax breaks or discounted land from the city to set aside 20 percent of their units for low- to moderate-income residents. After another 18 months, development projects that benefit from city rezonings would be required to make 10 percent of units affordable. And if overall housing hits high-end prices, 10 percent of all development projects would have to be made affordable.
Providing more affordable housing is critical as Baltimore remains one of the 10 most impoverished areas of the country, while also experiencing tremendous increases in expensive residences, especially in downtown areas around the waterfront. New mixed-income projects contemplated by the bill would be spread throughout the city, a necessary element to help prevent further concentrations of poverty and affluence that make for a divided city.
The legislation should provide additional affordable housing without discouraging developers from undertaking mixed-income projects. But as with many things, the proof will be in the details.
It's unclear whether $2 million designated for the first year of a trust fund that will allow the city to compensate developers for expenses they incur as a result of the required set-asides will be sufficient - or whether it can be expanded and sustained.
The city will also have to ensure coordination of this new program with its ambitious efforts to reclaim and revitalize thousands of vacant houses. It would not make sense to undermine well-intentioned mixed-income development projects with too-slow efforts to deal with vacant and boarded-up houses in the same vicinity. (baltimoresun.com)
This major step forward should work in Baltimore - so long as it dovetails with the city's efforts to convert vacant houses into viable places to live.
Like many surrounding areas, Baltimore's housing prices have climbed significantly in recent years. But what constitutes welcome rising property values for some means unaffordable housing for others, and soaring prices have pushed out many low-income residents. City officials, housing advocates, developers and others have tried for about two years to come up with a workable response.
This bill represents a reasonable compromise. By the beginning of 2009, it will require developers who receive tax breaks or discounted land from the city to set aside 20 percent of their units for low- to moderate-income residents. After another 18 months, development projects that benefit from city rezonings would be required to make 10 percent of units affordable. And if overall housing hits high-end prices, 10 percent of all development projects would have to be made affordable.
Providing more affordable housing is critical as Baltimore remains one of the 10 most impoverished areas of the country, while also experiencing tremendous increases in expensive residences, especially in downtown areas around the waterfront. New mixed-income projects contemplated by the bill would be spread throughout the city, a necessary element to help prevent further concentrations of poverty and affluence that make for a divided city.
The legislation should provide additional affordable housing without discouraging developers from undertaking mixed-income projects. But as with many things, the proof will be in the details.
It's unclear whether $2 million designated for the first year of a trust fund that will allow the city to compensate developers for expenses they incur as a result of the required set-asides will be sufficient - or whether it can be expanded and sustained.
The city will also have to ensure coordination of this new program with its ambitious efforts to reclaim and revitalize thousands of vacant houses. It would not make sense to undermine well-intentioned mixed-income development projects with too-slow efforts to deal with vacant and boarded-up houses in the same vicinity. (baltimoresun.com)
Friday, May 25, 2007
Baltimore City: Fire highlights lack of shelter for poor
The rowhouse fire in East Baltimore that claimed the lives of six people and left seven injured highlighted a hidden problem of Baltimore housing: poor families who are unable to find or afford decent shelter banding together under one roof.
Advocates said yesterday that the problem is the result of an acute shortage of adequate housing for the city's neediest residents.
They pointed out that the Housing Authority of Baltimore City's inventory has declined by more than 5,000 units in the past 15 years, and that as many as 3,000 other federally subsidized units have been lost during that time. They also said that the loss of permanent subsidized units is not being made up by increases in housing vouchers that allow low-income families to rent in the private market.
"The question I've always tossed out is, 'What happens to all these folks? Where are they?'" said Gregory Countess, assistant director of advocacy for housing and community economic development for the Legal Aid Bureau of Maryland. "The fact that you've got thousands of units of housing lost means that you've lost opportunities for people to live in places that are safe and decent and affordable."
Barbara Samuels, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who specializes in housing issues, said about 29,000 Baltimore families are on the waiting list for public housing - a number that is double the number of units available in the city's portfolio of properties.
"Certainly, it symbolizes the desperate need and demand for affordable housing and the diminishing supply of opportunities," she said of the number of people who were living in the Cecil Avenue rowhouse near Green Mount Cemetery. "You see that in the families that have doubled up, tripled up, in this case maybe even quadrupled up."
The loss of low-income units is not restricted to Baltimore. In recent years, Baltimore County has demolished or plans to demolish about 1,500 units in projects such as Kingsley Park, Samuels said. Because the housing market is regional, the loss of those units can also affect the demand for low-income housing in the city, she says.
"Was some of that housing bad?" she said. "Sure. But nothing is being done to replace it."
Nationally, the National Low Income Housing Coalition wants to create 1.5 million new rental units for needy families, a goal that carries a price tag of about $5 billion, said Nicole Letourneau, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group.
A first step toward reaching that goal was taken Tuesday, when the House of Representatives included $600 million over five years for a national housing trust fund as part of reform legislation for federally chartered private lenders, Letourneau said.
"From the standpoint of the NLIHC, doubling up and tripling up in housing is one of the effects of having a lack of housing that's affordable to people with the lowest incomes," she said.
In Baltimore, the practice - which appears to have been the case in the Cecil Avenue rowhouse - is nothing new.
"It's always been a problem," said Stanley Sugarman, a longtime property owner and manager who recently got out of the business. "I used to go around and see the tenants and you'd see people in the basement or my plumber would tell me there are people sleeping next to the hot water heater. They'd say, 'The people are just visiting.'"
The problem is partly a lack of money in a city where the poverty rate for individuals is nearly 23 percent and for families is nearly 19 percent, figures that are nearly double the national average, according the Census Bureau's most recent American Community Survey.
"A lot of people don't have the ability to pay for decent housing," Sugarman said. "They have to double up. They rent rooms."
The phenomenon is also reflective of broader problems in the city's low-income rental market.
In a 2005 study funded by the Abell Foundation and published by the Urban Institute entitled "Low-End Rental Housing: The Forgotten Story in Baltimore's Housing Boom," Sandra Newman found that the low-income rental market was in "poor shape."
Newman, the director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, found that as of 2000, half of the rental units in the city were costing less than $400 a month.
"But because so many renters are poor, even these low rents are unaffordable to many," Newman wrote. "There are about two poor renters for every affordable housing unit in the city."
Advocates say the situation may be getting worse, as the gentrification of some city neighborhoods and the redevelopment of others have led to the loss of private low-end rental units.
In addition, the waiting list for the city's housing voucher program has been closed for four years. Exceptions, according to the Housing Authority's Web site, are made for families who fall into several categories, including being victims of natural disasters, being intimidated victims or witnesses to crimes, being displaced by public action or having a member with a disability.
Presumably, at least one of the families in the Cecil Avenue rowhouse would have qualified under these circumstances, because one of the children used a wheelchair.
But Lauren Young, of the Maryland Disability Law Center, said being on the waiting list is no guarantee of immediate housing.
"It's a long waiting list," she said.
The Housing Authority did not respond to a request for comment.
But in a March draft of its plans for the next two years, the authority said that its "fundamental problem" was "inadequate and unpredictable funding."
Over the past several years, the draft said, the agency's federal operating funds have been cut by $26.2 million and its housing voucher monies have been cut by $18.9 million.
"Maximizing the number of households served will be extremely difficult in light of the inflationary nature of the rental market," the report said.
But Samuels, of the ACLU, said the Housing Authority lost funding for 2,000 vouchers that it failed to use during a six-year period from 1997 to 2003, and that it was diverting millions of dollars worth of vouchers from 2006 through 2008 to other uses.
She charged that the authority is using federal regulatory flexibility to "downsize" its low-income housing assets and calculated that the agency is serving 750 fewer families with vouchers and public housing units than it did in 1992.
Samuels said the authority should be serving more families because of additional vouchers it received to compensate for the loss of demolished public housing and federally subsidized rental units.
"The need is always there," she said. (baltimoresun.com)
Advocates said yesterday that the problem is the result of an acute shortage of adequate housing for the city's neediest residents.
They pointed out that the Housing Authority of Baltimore City's inventory has declined by more than 5,000 units in the past 15 years, and that as many as 3,000 other federally subsidized units have been lost during that time. They also said that the loss of permanent subsidized units is not being made up by increases in housing vouchers that allow low-income families to rent in the private market.
"The question I've always tossed out is, 'What happens to all these folks? Where are they?'" said Gregory Countess, assistant director of advocacy for housing and community economic development for the Legal Aid Bureau of Maryland. "The fact that you've got thousands of units of housing lost means that you've lost opportunities for people to live in places that are safe and decent and affordable."
Barbara Samuels, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who specializes in housing issues, said about 29,000 Baltimore families are on the waiting list for public housing - a number that is double the number of units available in the city's portfolio of properties.
"Certainly, it symbolizes the desperate need and demand for affordable housing and the diminishing supply of opportunities," she said of the number of people who were living in the Cecil Avenue rowhouse near Green Mount Cemetery. "You see that in the families that have doubled up, tripled up, in this case maybe even quadrupled up."
The loss of low-income units is not restricted to Baltimore. In recent years, Baltimore County has demolished or plans to demolish about 1,500 units in projects such as Kingsley Park, Samuels said. Because the housing market is regional, the loss of those units can also affect the demand for low-income housing in the city, she says.
"Was some of that housing bad?" she said. "Sure. But nothing is being done to replace it."
Nationally, the National Low Income Housing Coalition wants to create 1.5 million new rental units for needy families, a goal that carries a price tag of about $5 billion, said Nicole Letourneau, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group.
A first step toward reaching that goal was taken Tuesday, when the House of Representatives included $600 million over five years for a national housing trust fund as part of reform legislation for federally chartered private lenders, Letourneau said.
"From the standpoint of the NLIHC, doubling up and tripling up in housing is one of the effects of having a lack of housing that's affordable to people with the lowest incomes," she said.
In Baltimore, the practice - which appears to have been the case in the Cecil Avenue rowhouse - is nothing new.
"It's always been a problem," said Stanley Sugarman, a longtime property owner and manager who recently got out of the business. "I used to go around and see the tenants and you'd see people in the basement or my plumber would tell me there are people sleeping next to the hot water heater. They'd say, 'The people are just visiting.'"
The problem is partly a lack of money in a city where the poverty rate for individuals is nearly 23 percent and for families is nearly 19 percent, figures that are nearly double the national average, according the Census Bureau's most recent American Community Survey.
"A lot of people don't have the ability to pay for decent housing," Sugarman said. "They have to double up. They rent rooms."
The phenomenon is also reflective of broader problems in the city's low-income rental market.
In a 2005 study funded by the Abell Foundation and published by the Urban Institute entitled "Low-End Rental Housing: The Forgotten Story in Baltimore's Housing Boom," Sandra Newman found that the low-income rental market was in "poor shape."
Newman, the director of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Policy Studies, found that as of 2000, half of the rental units in the city were costing less than $400 a month.
"But because so many renters are poor, even these low rents are unaffordable to many," Newman wrote. "There are about two poor renters for every affordable housing unit in the city."
Advocates say the situation may be getting worse, as the gentrification of some city neighborhoods and the redevelopment of others have led to the loss of private low-end rental units.
In addition, the waiting list for the city's housing voucher program has been closed for four years. Exceptions, according to the Housing Authority's Web site, are made for families who fall into several categories, including being victims of natural disasters, being intimidated victims or witnesses to crimes, being displaced by public action or having a member with a disability.
Presumably, at least one of the families in the Cecil Avenue rowhouse would have qualified under these circumstances, because one of the children used a wheelchair.
But Lauren Young, of the Maryland Disability Law Center, said being on the waiting list is no guarantee of immediate housing.
"It's a long waiting list," she said.
The Housing Authority did not respond to a request for comment.
But in a March draft of its plans for the next two years, the authority said that its "fundamental problem" was "inadequate and unpredictable funding."
Over the past several years, the draft said, the agency's federal operating funds have been cut by $26.2 million and its housing voucher monies have been cut by $18.9 million.
"Maximizing the number of households served will be extremely difficult in light of the inflationary nature of the rental market," the report said.
But Samuels, of the ACLU, said the Housing Authority lost funding for 2,000 vouchers that it failed to use during a six-year period from 1997 to 2003, and that it was diverting millions of dollars worth of vouchers from 2006 through 2008 to other uses.
She charged that the authority is using federal regulatory flexibility to "downsize" its low-income housing assets and calculated that the agency is serving 750 fewer families with vouchers and public housing units than it did in 1992.
Samuels said the authority should be serving more families because of additional vouchers it received to compensate for the loss of demolished public housing and federally subsidized rental units.
"The need is always there," she said. (baltimoresun.com)
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