Affordable housing bill voted down at Anne Arundel County Council’s Monday meeting

A bill that would require most new residential buildings in Anne Arundel to include affordable units failed to pass the Anne Arundel County Council on Monday night.

The bill, which was voted down by the three Republicans and council member Allison Pickard, a Glen Burnie Democrat, would have mandated developers to allocate 15% of units in each large-scale building project to be affordable for renters earning around $62,000 or less and buyers earning about $83,000 or less. Anyone who lives, works or has accepted a job offer in Anne Arundel would be eligible for the moderately priced dwelling unit program.

Pickard said she felt the bill, which was drafted by County Executive Steuart Pittman’s staff, wasn’t yet where it needed to be.

“I’m looking for results that will give us the biggest impact and the most housing opportunity for our families,” Pickard said, arguing that the bill didn’t provide enough incentives for developers amid a period during which building activity is on the decline.

Instead of passing the bill, Pickard proposed conducting housing and land use analyses to assess zoning obstacles alongside affordability solutions.

“I’m disappointed that this is where we are with this bill,” Pickard said. “But tonight I’ll be voting my conscience.”

Throughout the past month and a half, nurses, bus drivers, librarians, social workers and recent college graduates have come before the council to discuss the need for affordable housing in the region. Many say they’ve had to find roommates, get second or third jobs, and spend over half their income on rent to afford living near their place of work.

Council member Amanda Fiedler, an Arnold Republican, said she thought the bill still needed more work but did not specify further. Meanwhile, Shannon Leadbetter, a Crofton Republican, said she didn’t support how the program would expand the local government, the size of which already concerns her.

“It’s the growth of the administration we would have to do to make the program run,” Leadbetter said. The affordable housing program the legislation would create would be operated by Arundel Community Development Services, a government-affiliated nonprofit that works on housing insecurity issues.

Following the vote, Pittman described the body’s decision in a statement as “a slap in the face to the large part of our workforce that is priced out of most of the new homes and apartments being built today.”

Other Democratic supporters of the bill, including Council members Julie Hummer, of Laurel, and Lisa Rodvien, of Annapolis, conceded that tens of thousands of county residents will still not be able to access affordable housing, but said it was an important start.

“We are 13,000 units short right now and if we wait for the market to catch up with supply, we’re going to be waiting a very long time,” Rodvien said. “What are we here for if we’re not here to respond to the people who are crying out for help and saying they need us to do better and they need our county to work better?”

“To make a dent in our housing shortage we need to go big,” Hummer said.

Though the council and Pittman’s administration disagreed on several details throughout the process, his team said it had hoped the legislation would pass, noting that most surrounding counties have comparable laws in place.

“This bill is not everything that will solve this problem,” said Peter Baron, chief strategy officer for Pittman. “But, this bill is a key piece.”