Category: AHS

This is an update from the PRA Committee on Attainable Housing Strategies.

The County Council began its 2025 legislative session on January 14.  As of January 20, no legislation had been introduced specifically addressing  what actions the Council should take regarding the Attainable Housing Strategies [AHS], as drafted by the County’s Planning Board.  [Residents can review all PRA News articles about the AHS here.]

However, some Councilmembers have recently made public statements about the AHS.  As reported in a previous PRA News article, CM Jawando has urged the Council to “pause” its deliberations of the AHS proposals based on the “…outpouring of concern from the community regarding the recommendations”.  That same article noted that CM Kate Stewart is committed to “…boosting the availability of housing and affordable housing, especially along our transit corridors and near job centers.”  CM Mink has stated that “Tackling the housing affordability crisis is necessary and urgent, but we have other, better tools available than the AHS’s far-reaching and relatively low-yield recommendations.” [See this PRA News article.]. CM Friedson said in a public session with the Bethesda-Chevy Chase Breakfast Club that while the County does have a housing challenge, the Council should focus on the areas that would have the biggest impact such as the Growth Corridors.  He also expressed concern about the effect that some of the proposals could have on infrastructure, parking, and the environment.

However, other organizations have continued to express support for the AHS proposals.  For example Greater Greater Washington [GGW] has stated on its website that “…last week, two Montgomery County councilmembers called for “a pause” on Attainable Housing Strategies, a set of recommendations the County Council’s reviewing to legalize lower-cost house types–like duplexes, townhomes, and apartments–that aren’t allowed in most of the county today. … We still think it’s important for councilmembers to hear from people like you who want them to do something about high housing costs, because they’re hearing from a lot of people who feel differently.”   GGW urged its members to write to Councilmembers to express support for the proposals but unfortunately the link to the sample letter was disabled.

The Coalition for Smarter Growth, long a supporter of the AHS proposals, stated on its webpage that “The housing crisis is real, it is here today, and cannot be ignored. We encourage the Council to carry on its work on the Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative. The AHSI is based on years of research and community outreach, and the time to act is now.”

Finally, the Montgomery County Civic Federation [MCCF], of which the PRA is a member, noted that a majority of the 11 Councilmembers have not yet expressed their opinions publicly. In a legislative alert, the MCCF repeated its concerns with the AHS proposals, citing its resolution of November 2024 and its accompanying  letter to the Council. It urged residents to “ask the Council to suspend consideration of this ill-conceived proposal.” 

In keeping with the purposes of the PRA AHS Committee to provide timely, objective, and balanced information about the AHS to Parkwood residents, we have included in this article links or excerpts from groups that have varying opinions about the AHS proposals.

In accordance with its guidelines, the PRA committee will not take a position pro or con.  However, we urge residents to decide for themselves what they think about the AHS proposals and write to the Councilmembers listed below to express their views about this initiative. 

 The email addresses for all 11 members of the Council are here.

councilmember.jawando@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.friedson@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.albornoz@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.sayles@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.balcombe@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.katz@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.stewart@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.mink@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.fani-gonzalez@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.luedtke@montgomerycountymd.gov

councilmember.glass@montgomerycountymd.gov

Update from the PRA AHS Committee

Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-5) has issued a statement in which she says that “I appreciate the Planning Board and Planning staff for their work on the Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative. Tackling the housing affordability crisis is necessary and urgent, but we have other, better tools available than the AHS’s far-reaching and relatively low-yield recommendations. I look forward to leaning into those other possibilities with colleagues and the community.”

She expresses doubts that replacing a single-family home with one- to two-bedroom 6-plexes and 8-plexes would “… make a meaningful dent in our housing crisis and would continue to leave low- and middle-income families behind.”

“We should be prioritizing high-yield strategies that can earn the support of our communities.”  Examples she cites include:

• The Housing Production Fund [HPF] which”… is already helping to fund mixed-income projects across the county, like District 5’s Hillandale Gateway — 496 units, nearly a third senior housing, being sustainably built to some of the highest above-code building standards in the world.”
• “Establishing a modest new excise tax on residential tear-downs could generate a meaningful increase in funding available for the HPF, while disincentivizing construction of enormous new single-family homes that are typically sold at more than double their pre-tear-down value.”
• “Finally, we do need more housing density as a county, and we are already expanding areas for dense redevelopment through the traditional master planning process. In District 5 alone, we greatly increased areas eligible for mixed-use development along Route 29 and Old Columbia Pike through the 2024 Fairland Briggs Chaney Master Plan, and we are close to realizing thousands of housing units through the Viva White Oak project as part of the White Oak Science Gateway Master Plan.”

Based on recent statements by two leading members of the County Council, it would appear that the proposed Attainable Housing Strategies [AHS] to permit duplexes, triplexes, and quadplexes in communities currently zoned for single family homes such as Parkwood are not likely to be considered by the Council this year.  See the excerpts below from Council President Kate Stewart and Vice President Will Jawando.

It is possible that the Council may take up proposals sometime in 2025 or later to address the need for more affordable housing other than upzoning.  The PRA Committee on AHS will continue to track developments and keep residents informed of alternative proposals to improve housing options in the County.

Kate Stewart’s statement.

“We commit to boosting the availability of housing and affordable housing, especially along our transit corridors and near job centers.”  [Excerpt is from statement made after she was elected Council President; it can be found under heading “Advancing our Values”.]

Will Jawando’s statement.

“After studying the AHSI recommendations in detail and hearing the outpouring of concern from the community regarding the recommendations – through listening sessions, correspondence, neighborhood visits, and one-on-one conversations all around the County – I believe we should pause consideration of these recommendations at this time.

“I am committed to working with my colleagues, the Planning Board, developers, and—most importantly—our residents to ensure Montgomery County remains a place of opportunity and belonging for all. We can and must build more housing, but we must do it wisely—including with policies that are rooted in our community’s desires for its future and that reflect our shared values of equity, sustainability, and fairness. That’s why I believe we should pause consideration of these recommendations and refocus on meeting the needs of our current and future residents with affordable housing, ensuring approved projects get built, protecting renters, and thoughtfully considering any future targeted zoning changes in close coordination with the community. By being deliberate and transparent in our approach, we can create housing solutions that work for the people of Montgomery County.” [Excerpts from statement made on January 7, 2025]

As PRA President Kira Lueders reported previously on the listserv, the Montgomery County Civic Federation [MCCF], of which the PRA is a member, adopted a resolution urging the County Council to “…suspend consideration of [the Attainable Housing Strategies] proposal, [arguing that] “…the initiative will not provide help to those most challenged by housing costs and that it may, in fact, make matters worse.” 

The cover letter to the Council succinctly summarizes the MCCF’s major concerns.  The full resolution is here.

On November 19 the County Council received a summary, prepared by Council staff, of residents’ comments on the Attainable Housing Strategies.  The report included a total of 3,252 comments submitted to the Council through its AHS portal [2,308 comments], emailed directly to Councilmembers [629 comments], or made by attendees at one of the Council’s six listening session [315 comments].  The full report is here.

The report grouped the comments from all sources into three categories:  PRO, CON, and QUESTIONS/SUGGESTIONS [Q/S].  The breakdown was as follows:

PRO:   15% [494 comments]

CON:  82%  [2,662 comments]

Q/S:       3%  [96 questions and suggestions)

Examples of the most common themes [top 3] expressed through each of the sources follows.  For more details, see the full report.

COMMENTS AGAINST AHS

Listening sessions [202 comments]

1. Insufficient infrastructure and resources (46 comments).
2. Won’t address affordability challenges (39 comments).
3. Loss of neighborhood character and/or single-family detached neighborhood [22 comments].

Portal [1,928 comments ]

1. Insufficient infrastructure and resources (water, sewer, schools).
2. Insufficient parking and more traffic.
3. AHS won’t address affordability challenges.

Emails to Council [532 comments]

1. The environmental impacts such as loss of tree canopy and green space, stormwater management and septic issues.
2. An increase in traffic.
3. That the initiative will not address affordability.

COMMENTS FOR AHS

Listening session [92 comments]

1. Promotes attainability and/or affordability (46 comments).
2. Promotes diversity (14 comments).
3. Supports “aging in place” (9 comments).

Portal [321 comments]

1. Promotes attainability/affordability;
2. Pro – no specific comment.
3. Benefits younger residents.

Emails to Council  [81 comments]

1. Promotes affordability and/or attainability
2. Increases diversity of neighborhoods and makes the County more welcoming.
3. Encourages transit.

QUESTIONS/SUGGESTIONS

Listening session  [21 comments]

1. How the pattern book will be developed and/or enforced (4 speakers).
2. Suggestions to provide tax credits for maintaining smaller home and/or higher taxes on larger homes (3 comments).
3. How ADUs will be addressed, whether AHS will provide for the protection of historic properties, how AHS recommendations will impact property values, and whether limits can be placed on investors buying homes (2 speakers each).

Portal  [59 comments]

1. Can the County provide tax credits for keeping houses small or tax larger homes more?
2. Has a fiscal impact analysis been done to look at cost?
3. How would the AHS recommendations impact property values?

Emails to Council [16 comments]

1. Questions about the information that would be provided in the Pattern Book.
2. Suggestions to lower taxes instead.
3. Questions about affordability and renting versus owning.
4. Questions and suggestions to hire experts.

The Council’s central staff has been preparing a summary of the six listening sessions and other comments received from county residents about the Attainable Housing Strategies [AHS] initiative.  The staff had planned to have the summary ready for the Council by the end of October. In response to the PRA AHS committee’s inquiry about its status, CM Stewart’s office replied that the Council staff had received so much correspondence that they needed additional time to complete the task.

Their current schedule is to deliver the summary to the Council on November 19.  The PRA AHS committee will continue to track this project and will keep Parkwood residents informed about its status.  Based on the revised date, it is likely, although not definite, that Council action on the AHS will continue into January.

At the Town of Kensington meeting on the Attainable Housing Strategies held on October 15, Councilmember Kate Stewart noted the following with regard to next steps for AHS legislation.  [See the recording of the session beginning at approximately 15:25.]

1. Although the Council has been holding listening sessions on the AHS, currently no legislation has been introduced and no legislation is pending before the Council related to its implementation.

2. On October 29, Council staff will present to the Council a summary of the comments received during and following the Council’s six listening sessions.  This report will include comments received up until Friday, October 18 at 5:00 PM.  Comments submitted after this date will be sent to Councilmembers but will not be in included in the staff summary.

3. A Councilmember would then have to draft legislation related to the AHS.  This would likely take the form of one or more zoning text amendments [ZTAs].

4. Once such legislation was drafted, the council would be required to hold a public hearing no sooner than 30 days after the legislation was introduced.

5. The legislation would then be referred to committee [presumably the Planning, Housing, and Parks Committee], which would hold one or more work sessions on the proposed ZTAs.

6. The legislation would then be reported by the PHP committee to the full Council for further action.

The net result, if these steps are adhered to, is that the full Council would not take action on AHS legislation until sometime in December 2024 at the earliest.

It is also important to report that at the Town of Kensington meeting, Councilmember Stewart stated that before the Council moved forward with any legislation, “we will make sure we are hearing from residents, that we would come back and do more [of these types of listening sessions.]”

As previously reported in PRA News, the Town of Kensington held its own town hall meeting on October 15 on the Attainable Housing Strategies prepared by the Planning Board and submitted to the County Council for its consideration.  The meeting can be seen on YouTube here beginning at 12:38 [the start of the session was delayed]. 

Several community members attended the meeting and said that it was informative and worthwhile.

Planning Department staff member Lisa Govoni gave the introductory presentation and responded to questions; she was joined by Planning Board member James Hedrick.  Councilmember Kate Stewart, who represents both the Town of Kensington and Parkwood, also attended the session, along with Paul Ellis, her deputy chief of staff.  CM Stewart gave an estimated timeline for the Council’s next steps in considering AHS legislation.

County Council staff are preparing a summary and analysis of community feedback on the Planning Board’s Attainable Housing Strategies recommendations. For your feedback to be considered as Council staff provides their report, your comments and questions must be received by 5 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. The portal for feedback will remain open, and Councilmembers will continue to consider feedback received after this date; however, Council staff will not be able to include information received after Oct. 18 in the first summary of feedback presented to the Council.

The link to the form for submitting your comments to the Council is here.

Apologies for this late notice.  We have just learned about this meeting regarding Attainable Housing Strategies.

The Town of Kensington is hosting a meeting on the County’s Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative tonight, Tuesday, October 15, with Montgomery County Planning from 7-9pm in-person at the Kensington Town Hall.  Lisa Govoni, who gave the presentation at the PRA meeting on October 7 will be the speaker. 

The meeting will be broadcast on the County’s YouTube channel here.  It will also be recorded so that it can be viewed later.

County Councilmember Kate Stewart has been invited to come and listen to community questions, concerns, and thoughts.  She has also been asked to share the legislative process for what would come next.