This article, prepared by the PRA AHS committee, describes the goals of the proposed Attainable Housing Strategies and the problems it is designed to solve.
A shortage of housing and especially affordable housing is the most important and most frequently cited challenge the plan is intended to address. The goals also include:
- Increasing the diversity of the County’s housing supply.
- Meeting economic development objectives.
- “Unraveling” the exclusionary aspects of the County’s single family home zoning.
- Creating more opportunities for more home ownership for more households in more parts of the county.
The cost of housing is a major problem. “Housing has become less affordable in all parts of Montgomery County. In 2023, the average detached home sales price was $968,522 – an increase of three percent from the 2022 average. This was not an outlier, as year-to-date in 2024 (January through April) the average detached home sales price increased by approximately $50,000 to over $1,000,000.
“In all zip codes in Montgomery County, home prices have increased above the rate of inflation and outpaced income growth since the mid-1990s. … Neighborhoods that were once considered relatively affordable are now only affordable to households earning well above the median income.” [pp12;dp13**]
“If the trends are not addressed, the disparities between those who can and cannot afford to buy a home in the county will continue to grow. Given the historical inequities associated with homeownership, those disparities will continue to segregate Montgomery County communities along racial, ethnic, and economic lines.” [pp15;dp16**]
However, the actual shortage of housing in the county, attainable, affordable, or otherwise has become a matter of debate. While there is data, noted above, showing that in the last several years the cost of housing has risen faster than the increase in income, there is some disagreement about the extent of the reported “housing shortage”. The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has said the county needs many more thousands of houses to meet demand in the next several years.
On the other hand, the County Executive notes that this need has declined in the past two years and reports that enough housing permits under current zoning have already been granted to meet that need. If the latter is true, will the proposals encourage those with permits to begin building? And will that housing be more attainable or affordable than the current market offers?
Some County leaders have expressed strong support for the need to solve the housing challenge.
Council President Friedson, for example, has said that “We face a severe housing shortage in Montgomery County which requires thoughtful, forward-looking action. Finding a home that meets the evolving needs of our residents and families has become increasingly out of reach.”
Planning Board Chair Artie Harris has stated that “The time has come for Montgomery County to break free from outdated zoning that has constrained the housing supply, led to skyrocketing real estate prices, and has forced more of the County’s middle-income population to search elsewhere for housing. The County has little open land left to build on and almost half of the County’s housing stock is composed of detached housing.”
However, County Executive Elrich, while agreeing with the need for more affordable housing has questioned whether the proposals in the Planning Board’s plan are the best way to meet that need.
Summary: Rising costs have made housing unaffordable for many residents in many parts of the county. The Attainable Housing Strategies initiative currently before the County Council is intended to meet the need for more attainable and especially more affordable housing, while also addressing other goals such as economic development and more opportunities for home ownership for more households. There is debate, however, over the extent of the actual housing shortage and whether the proposals in the Attainable Housing Report are the best way to meet its goals.
The next article in this series will discuss the types of housing recommended and not recommended for neighborhoods such as Parkwood.
** Throughout this and subsequent articles, two page numbers will be used as references to the text of the Planning Board’s Final Report to the Council. The letters “pp” will refer to the printed page number of the report. The letters “dp” will refer to the digital page number of the report in PDF format.
Parkwood Residents Association 
“The County has little open land left to build on and almost half of the County’s housing stock is composed of detached housing.”
Might the problem be more easily solved by eliminating the outdated zoning that treats over a third of the county as a bizarre “agricultural preserve”? This is a self-inflicted crisis that should not be borne by existing homeowners and neighborhoods.
Since the new houses being built in Parkwood list for about $2+ million, how would these two, three and four units built on a single lot be priced? It would appear quite unlikely that developers would price new duplex or triplex units at $5-600,000 which would be more “affordable” pricing. As an example the new units built on busy corner of Summit and Knowles are priced at well over $1 million. Building a few more high priced units is unlikely to address affordability goal.