Affordable Housing

DEVELOPERS who eschew affordable housing in their quest for fatter sales prices aren't as disappointing as the politicians who let them get away with it. Elected officials should have the greater community's interest in mind.They don't when they are so shortsighted as to not see the consequences of building only upscale housing. Yet that appears to be happening in Howard County.The first two large developments proposed under the county's new law requiring a certain amount of affordable housing may be able to skirt the requirement.

Oxford Mews, a 192-unit affordable-housing project off Bywater Road in Annapolis, may have fallen victim to the savings and loan crisis, and its demise could cost the city government $156,000.Robert Gaines, an Annapolis developer, had been negotiating to buy the 18 acres from Second National Federal Savings Bank, but federal regulators seized the thrift and its assets in December 1992, before the sale could be completed.Now, Resolution Trust Corp., which manages the thrift's properties, wants to sell the land.

A draft Howard County housing plan proposes that the county adopt higher-density zoning to permit significantly more development of town houses and apartments for families earning $60,000 a year or less.The plan, now in the final drafting stages, will be forwarded later this month to County Executive Charles I. Ecker. It is being devised by the county's Housing and Community Development Board and the Housing Commission.The executive asked the citizen panels to develop a blueprint for creating more affordable housing in the affluent county.

More than a year after Baltimore passed a law intended to keep housing affordable for working-class families, City Hall is testing the limits of its newfound power on a prominent stretch of waterfront property. Relying in part on the new law, the city is negotiating with Turner Development Group to build at least 200 affordable homes and apartments alongside the massive residential project proposed for the Westport neighborhood on the Middle Branch of the Patapsco, The Sun has learned.

A bill designed to increase Baltimore's stock of affordable housing by requiring it to be mixed into certain market-rate projects comfortably passed a City Council committee last night. Supported by a politically powerful coalition of religious groups, urban advocacy organizations and unions, the inclusionary housing legislation will go to the City Council, where it is expected to come to a vote within the next few weeks. "There are people who still say [the bill] won't work, and if we do it, it will backfire," said the Rev. Richard Lawrence, pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church downtown, part of the coalition.

The latest census of Baltimore's homeless population shows that some things are getting worse, particularly the number of people who remain homeless for more than a year - and many things remain the same, which is hardly good news. What the census report reinforces is that the homeless will continue to be with us until there is a major effort to deal with housing shortages that help push people onto the streets. The huge imbalance between supply and demand for affordable housing makes the Housing Authority of Baltimore City's use of a specially created affordable-housing fund to demolish more than 1,500 public housing units without adequate, tangible plans for redevelopment especially alarming and regrettable.

Most American politicians, including most so-called liberals, are cowards on the subject of housing for the poor. They may grandstand on the backs of the huddled homeless when winter comes, but ask them to do something practical, smart and lasting to make housing more accessible and affordable to our poorest citizens and they either run for cover or use the topic, as the radio-talkers do, to incite a crowd with fear and anger. In Baltimore County, the leadership acts as if there are no poor - or as if there's no urgency to help them find a place to live.

Tapping into a new affordable-housing fund for the first time, city officials approved a plan yesterday to spend $10.7 million to tear down more than 400 housing units in some of Baltimore's most neglected neighborhoods. From Poppleton to Cherry Hill, the demolitions are expected to begin this fall and will be paid for from an affordable-housing fund created last year as part of negotiations over a city-funded convention hotel. City officials hope the demolitions will spark private development of affordable housing.

Invest in housing to curb the crisis The affordable-housing crisis will not be wished away by simplistic visions of an "ownership society." Ending homelessness and achieving stability for low-income families will require an earnest investment in the production and maintenance of affordable housing. The Sun's coverage of Harvard University's recent housing study rightly frames the issue and demands action ("Need for affordable rentals grows critical nationwide," March 9). Advocates would be wise to focus now on the affordable-housing fund working its way through Congress.

Baltimore residents and housing advocates applauded yesterday the City Council's consideration of a bill to ensure the creation of more affordable housing - but said the legislation would have to be broadened to accomplish its goal of establishing mixed-income communities. Specifically, residents and leaders asked at a hearing that the standards of affordability set in the bill be lowered and that the bill be extended to include more developments. "The bill will not serve enough of Baltimore's residents," said Darryl Smith, secretary of the Reservoir Hill Improvement Council in North Baltimore, one of several city communities where housing prices are appreciating rapidly.

A Columbia-based national affordable-housing financier intends to funnel $4 billion in the next five years toward building and retrofitting homes that aren't just affordable, but also green. Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit that raises money from corporations, foundations and government agencies, said Wednesday that it believes that investment can build or renovate 75,000 homes and apartments. At the same time, it challenged builders across the country to go green on all projects aimed at lower- and moderate-income residents.

City and state officials on Monday praised a development team who renovated a former tin factory into affordable housing aimed at teachers and inexpensive office space for nonprofits. "It is an extraordinary building that will house extraordinary individuals," said Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, a former teacher, during a dedication ceremony for Miller's Court. The 77,000-square-foot brick building was constructed in 1874 but had become a hangout for drug dealers and squatters. The project qualified for funds dedicated to developing former industrial sites, known as brownfields.

Consensus appears elusive as Howard County Council members prepare for Monday night's public hearing on changes to a complex bill on redevelopment of Columbia's village centers. After a nearly three-hour work session last week at school board headquarters, issues such as parking, affordable housing and village center boundaries were unresolved, and at least one member appeared uncertain of how the bill addresses basic goals. No further discussions were scheduled before the 7:30 p.m. hearing.

City laws don't just affect group homes The U.S. Justice Department's suit against the city of Baltimore alleging discriminatory zoning practices related to drug-treatment group homes in the wake of Mayor Sheila Dixon's unsuccessful efforts to win City Council support for amending the law ("U.S. sues city over zoning," April 25) reminds us of other barriers to her initiatives, including her efforts to end homelessness. First, the same conditional-use ordinance that the Justice Department now alleges has illegally restricted the development of drug-treatment group homes also applies to homes and shelters for homeless people.

Two years ago, Maryland banned new ground rents in response to abuses uncovered in an investigative series by The Baltimore Sun. Now, a group of legislators wants to allow the creation of some new ground leases, but with a benevolent purpose: to promote affordable housing. The authority to create the new leases is contained in legislation to foster community land trusts, or CLTs - nonprofit community development organizations that aim to increase the supply of decent, affordable housing by ensuring that property remains affordable even as land values increase.

Charity isn't enough to help the homeless We empathize with the challenges faced by St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in working with well-intentioned members of the community to end homelessness, and the reflections some church leaders offered in "The challenge of charity" (Commentary, Jan. 30) illustrate the limits of charity, the promise of social justice and the importance of pursuing both. Three years ago, in collaboration with the city, we helped more than two dozen people leave St. Vincent Park and move into permanent housing.

A bill intended to help speed construction of lower-priced homes in Howard County by exempting them from some growth-control restraints might be tabled or delayed further, according to its prime sponsor. The measure, supported by a chorus of affordable-housing advocates at the council's public hearing Dec. 15, has run into criticism from two County Council members. Fulton Republican Greg Fox and Ellicott City Democrat Courtney Watson worry that by exempting lower-priced homes from the county's complex housing allocation system, the bill could open the door to further erosion of growth limits.

Developers not looking out for residents As a resident of Elkridge for the past 18 years, I have witnessed exponential growth in its housing market. In fact, If I were to walk into present day Elkridge straight from 1990, I would have trouble recognizing it. While I realize that growth is going to occur, I also recognize that only good governmental policy toward that growth will result in the widest benefit for all citizens. As a part of that citizenry, I object to the constant harping about affordable housing by the very developers who are content to wipe out trailer parks to build luxury apartments and condominiums.

Few issues in Howard County are as complicated and contentious as affordable-housing policy and growth-management controls. A new County Council bill appears to renew a clash between the two. The tussle erupted at a council public hearing Monday night, but in some ways it echoed past debates. Until now, local lawmakers have been reluctant to relax growth-management laws to allow county-required affordable housing to be built faster. In July, the council sharply restricted an Ulman administration bill that also sought to bend growth controls to speed redevelopment along U.S. 1 - another county priority that includes developments that incorporate lower-priced housing.

WASHINGTON - A Harvard-educated architect is Barack Obama's choice to head his housing agency, one which the president-elect says will play a key role in tackling the mortgage crisis in his administration. Shaun Donovan will bring "fresh thinking" to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Obama said yesterday, pledging that his nominee will abandon "old ideology and outdated ideas" that have stymied some of the agency's past efforts. "We can't keep throwing money at the problem, hoping for a different result," Obama said in his weekly radio address.