FALL 2025 ADVOCACY UPDATE – Affordable Housing Support
Fall Advocacy Update – Affordable Housing Support
State
Have your voice heard on Housing on November 17
On November 17 at 7 pm, the Montgomery County Delegation of the Maryland General Assembly will hold its annual legislative priorities hearing for the public via ZOOM. This is your chance to have your voice heard on housing affordability and the need to do more at the state level.
We need continued action at both the local and state level to address high housing costs. And when it comes to affordable housing, we need the state to continue to invest in Rental Housing Works, which is the primary tool for creating affordable housing across the state. Last year, Rental Housing Works was funded at $85 million, a reduction of $25 million from the prior year.
Please consider signing up to testify and lending your voice in support of actions to increase the preservation and production of affordable housing.
To sign up for the hearing, click here: Priorities Hearing Sign Up Form
Local
MoCo Planning Dept. Releases Recommendations to Boost Housing Production
The Montgomery County Planning Department released preliminary findings in its efforts to better understand why certain residential projects have stalled and to identify strategies to advance residential projects and housing production in general. This comes on the heels of a concerning trend of three straight quarters of zero building permits for new multifamily rental buildings.
The Planning Department’s analysis looked at projects that have received Planning Board approval but have not yet been built. In addition, staff conducted in-depth interviews with housing developers to uncover barriers to increasing housing production in Montgomery County. Developers reported compounding barriers to delivering housing such as high interest rates, rising construction costs, county policies, and lengthy regulatory and permitting processes.
Other key findings included:
- Strategically helping to close the financing gap for large scale projects that would deliver housing from the Pipeline where it is most needed in the county.
- Recalibrating the rent stabilization regulations to help advance projects out of the Pipeline. While many Pipeline projects predate the rent stabilization law, and the rent stabilization law is fairly new, its impacts seem to be having a chilling effect on the multifamily market.
- Comprehensively streamlining all steps of the regulatory process
Changes to Eviction Notice Requirements
During the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session, the General Assembly amended landlord-tenant law to require a landlord to provide a tenant with at least six days advanced notice of the date that an eviction is scheduled to take place. The new state law also enables local jurisdictions to increase the requirement of the 6-day advance notice to a 14-day advance notice. Earlier this month, in accordance with the enabling authority, Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink introduced Expedited Bill 31-25 to increase the local notice requirement in Montgomery County to 14 days.
The Council’s Planning, Housing and Parks committee is set to discuss the bill on December 1.
Housing Assistance Included in County’s Federal Shutdown Package
In response to the ongoing shutdown of the federal government and the impacts being felt by community members, the Montgomery County Council announced a special appropriation to provide assistance to residents and nonprofit organizations.
Last Tuesday, Montgomery County Council President Kate Stewart and Councilmembers announced a $7.75 million Public Service Support Resolution. This special appropriations package was introduced on November 4 with a public hearing and Council vote expected on November 18.
Notably, the package includes $1 million for Montgomery County’s Short-term Housing and Resolution Program (SHaRP) to support residents who are impacted due to the Federal Government shutdown that are at risk of experiencing homelessness. SHaRP provides up to 12 months of rental assistance and navigation services to those experiencing homelessness. SHaRP intervention costs 49.6 percent less per year than providing a motel room to a family for a year.
New Rental Assistance Program Launches in Montgomery County.
In October, a first-of-its-kind rental assistance program launched in Montgomery County.
The Community School Rental Assistance Program (CSRAP) is unique in that it is aimed at households with children attending “Community Schools,” which are schools that receive concentration of poverty grants.
CSRAP will provide emergency financial assistance to help families and students enrolled in designated Community Schools in Montgomery County who are at risk of eviction or utility shutoff, facing homelessness, or struggling to secure or maintain stable housing. Through this program, eligible families may receive assistance for past-due rent or utility bills and moving costs and security deposits for new rental housing.
A list of all of Montgomery County’s Community Schools can be found here – MoCo.CommSchools.List_.2025.pdf
The nonprofit organization, Housing Initiative Partnership (HIP), is administering the program, in close collaboration with eligible Community Schools across Montgomery County.
To learn more about eligibility guidelines and the application process, please visit HIP’s CSRAP Information Page.
We encourage you to share this important resource widely and refer eligible households who may benefit.
