Housing in Maryland at ‘inflection point,’ Sec. Day says. Legislature considers bills.

Maryland Secretary of Housing and Community Development Jake Day said the state is at “an inflection point” when it comes to housing during a news conference hosted by a trade association of realtors last week.

Ninety-nine percent of those ages 18 to 34 say it is harder to buy a home today than for previous generations, according to a survey of over 800 registered Maryland voters conducted in January by a polling firm.

Day and the Moore-Miller administration have legislation pending in the General Assembly aimed to help address a housing crisis, but how quickly and for who are open questions as the bills are scheduled to be heard in committee initially on Tuesday.

During the Feb. 14 news conference hosted at an Annapolis hotel by the trade association, Maryland REALTORS, the group’s president said the state had a housing shortage of around 150,000 units, citing a figure from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Last year, at a similar news conference, Maryland REALTORS put forward an approximately 120,000 unit shortage, up from 82,000 units the year before that.

Asked by a Maryland USA TODAY Network reporter if the administration’s bills would reduce the shortage in the next year, the organization’s president, Chris Hill, said the housing crisis would not be solved “overnight.”

“We’ll see a long-term positive impact,” he said, “but it’s not going to happen overnight.”

More: Maryland Housing Secretary Day estimates 96,000-unit housing shortage. Bills aim to help.

Day agrees legislation will alleviate state housing shortage

The state’s housing secretary, who sat at a table at the Governor Calvert House podium with Hill, agreed.

“Do I expect that the numbers will be significantly reduced a year from now if we’re sitting here at this time? I don’t think so,” said Day, who cited a 96,000 unit shortage in the state last year, “but it’s our job to ensure that we’re setting a course where the problem isn’t getting worse, but the problem is getting better.”

“If this legislation is adopted,” he said, “we’ll watch the numbers getting better and better.”

RECAP: There's a housing crisis in Maryland. Here's how lawmakers might fix it

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At the news conference, Hill said the organization is in support of two Moore-Miller administration bills (the Housing Expansion and Affordability Act and the Housing and Community Development Financing Act).

The first bill proposes a density bonus for developers, seeks to limit duplication of public hearings, and reduce restrictions on manufactured homes. The second piece of legislation proposes the creation of the Maryland Community Investment Corporation as a federally-certified Community Development Entity in an effort to pull in federal dollars and investments.

Both bills are scheduled to be heard in the House Environment and Transportation Committee on Tuesday afternoon in Annapolis.

A third bill backed by the Democratic Moore-Miller administration, the Renter’s Rights Stabilization Act, is also scheduled to be heard by the committee on Tuesday. The cities of Salisbury and Hagerstown had two of the highest rates of renters in the state last year.

“We will be testifying on the renters bill as ‘favorable with amendments,’” said Dan Patrell, senior director for strategic communications for Maryland REALTORS, in a Feb. 15 email.

That bill, as proposed, increases the surcharges for certain eviction proceedings from $8 to $93. More than 400,000 “failure to pay rent” cases were filed in the state’s 2023 fiscal year.

The governor brought attention to that topic earlier this month in his state of the state address.

“Maryland has the highest eviction filing rate in America,” Gov. Wes Moore said.

Referencing the legislative housing package in his address, he said: “We will work together to get it done.”

Dwight A. Weingarten is an investigative reporter, covering the Maryland State House and state issues. He can be reached at dweingarten@gannett.com or on Twitter at @DwightWeingart2.

This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: Maryland bills will drive down housing shortage if adopted, Day says