Pursuant to an agreement announced last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that it resolved a discrimination complaint filed by local housing advocacy groups against Maryland’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The complaint challenged the fairness of Maryland’s Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program. As detailed by HUD, the resolution puts forward policies, incentives, and more flexible program rules that are designed to streamline the designation/construction of affordable housing in various neighborhoods in and around Baltimore.
With respect to housing, the deal as crafted is hoped to develop up to 1,500 new affordable units. Of those 1,500 units, more than 1,000 are slated to be new construction. In a change to state policy, developers of affordable housing will no longer have to satisfy certain local scoring or approval criteria before applying for state-allocated tax credits.
The resolution ends six years of litigation that was filed by a group of housing and civil rights organizations. The plaintiffs argued that Maryland’s policy of requiring local jurisdictions to approve proposed affordable housing projects prior to the allocation of tax credits to fund construction essentially stopped affordable housing from being developed in predominately White areas. As such, according to the complaint, housing opportunities for African American and Hispanic families were wrongfully limited in and around Baltimore.
Pursuant to the settlement, the DHCD will: end the requirement of local approvals; mandate that at least 1,500 units of affordable family housing are developed certain areas in and around Baltimore region; amend plans to now award points to any proposal to develop family housing in a community of opportunity (including providing more of an incentive for homes with two or more bedrooms); expand affirmative fair housing marketing activities; and pay $225,000 to promote the mission of the local fair housing groups.
Just A Thought.
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