On Monday/early Tuesday morning, April 7/8, Governor Moore’s Housing for Jobs Act, substantially rewritten in a House of Delegates committee, expired along with the General Assembly’s regular 2025 session.
Although the House and Senate appeared to agree on the need for studies and reports on the housing market, as well as targets to increase housing in certain regions of the state, they stalled on language concerning “vesting rights” for developers. As proposed, such rights would have guaranteed housing developers the ability to proceed under zoning and permitting rules in place at the time of application and for five years thereafter. The bill did not move out of the Senate Education, Energy, and Environment Committee before the end of session.
Similar legislation is likely to be introduced next year. It is doubtful, however, that counties and municipalities will cede zoning and permitting authority to the state, as the first draft of HB 503/SB 430 appeared to contemplate. Thus, for Parkwood and surrounding neighborhoods, major legislative action on housing returns to the Montgomery County Council this year. Nevertheless, “politics is less local than it used to be.” Andrew Gelman, “All Politics is Local? The Debate and the Graphs,” NYT, 03/21/15
Joe Harkins, Co-Chair, PRA Housing Committee
Parkwood Residents Association 