Thursday, February 7, 2013
Notable outcomes include eased regulations for accessory apartments, passing of the disabled hiring bill and evaluation of potential affordable housing locations.
The Montgomery County Council met Tuesday, Feb. 5. Notable outcomes from the meeting include: County Eases Rules for Accessory Apartments The Montgomery County Council passed a zoning amendment and bill Tuesday that will make it easier for homeowners to add an accessory apartment to a single-family home, The Washington Examiner reported. After almost 10 years of policy discussion, homeowners who want to add a small apartment for an aging parent, a caretaker or a renter can now do so in 90 to 110 days, versus a process that previously took a minimum of five to six months, The Washington Post reported. Residents opposed to the change were concerned it might lead to overcrowding of neighborhood schools, according to The Washington Post, but "…
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Ervin: ‘We’re turning on a faucet and only letting some drops drip out of the faucet, and then we’re pretending like that’s good enough.’
Officials, advocates and the community at large need to shed outdated ideas about the long-hailed strength of Montgomery’s affordable housing programs, councilmembers say, and come up with concrete plans that work effectively. More than a year in the making, the Department of Housing and Community Affairs has drafted a 100-page housing policy—the first update since 2001—that puts a priority on: Councilmembers want to make sure the county does not rest on the laurels of decades past, when initiatives like the MPDU program LINK made Montgomery a pioneer in affordable housing. “Before we start patting ourselves on the back and congratulating ourselves for all the wonderful things we’ve done, we still have to recognize that Montgomery County…
Friday, June 15, 2012
The amendment has been met with opposition among Montgomery County residents.
The Takoma Park City Council will support a countywide zoning text amendment that would allow Montgomery County residents to have accessory apartments without going through the special exception process. The amendment is supposed to make the process, which Takoma Park Community Development Coordinator Roz Grigsby called lengthy and expensive, easier for residents. An accessory apartment is aa self-contained, detached second living unit on the property of an existing single family dwelling. [Get daily and breaking news email updates by signing up for free newsletters from Takoma Park Patch.] There are currently 53 accessory apartments in Takoma Park, with 38 percent of those in Ward 3 and 31 percent in Ward 1, according to Grigsby. The …
Monday, May 7, 2012
At a housing summit Monday, local and federal officials recognized the need for more affordable housing in Montgomery County.
Nearly 26,500 people in Montgomery County are waiting for assistance to receive a housing voucher or placement in public housing, according to officials who spoke Monday at the Affordable Housing Summit of Montgomery County. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) also reported that there are more than 700 homeless veterans living in the DC metro region. The numbers are only expected to grow as nearly a million veterans return from Iraq and Afghanistan, according to officials. The Housing Choice Vouchers, formerly known as Section 8, allow for low-income residents to find affordable housing in the private sector, while public housing is run by the Housing Opportunities Commission and funded by taxpayer dollars. Montgomery …
Kim Cooke
8:05 pm on Friday, November 23, 2012
Well said, Mr. Hydorn. more ›