{"id":9766,"date":"2024-06-13T15:57:28","date_gmt":"2024-06-13T19:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/?p=9766"},"modified":"2026-03-17T15:46:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T19:46:41","slug":"give-everyone-a-chance-to-call-montgomery-county-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/montgomeryplanning.org\/blog-design\/2024\/06\/give-everyone-a-chance-to-call-montgomery-county-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Give everyone a chance to call Montgomery County home"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Artie Harris, Montgomery County Planning Board Chair and Jason K. Sartori, Montgomery Planning Director<\/em><\/p>\n

This blog is also published in Greater Greater Washington<\/a> as a guest opinion column. <\/em><\/p>\n

Bold action by governments to tackle the country\u2019s housing crisis has been scarce for far too long. The Biden administration is fed up too, calling for federal policies that would incentivize local governments to end discriminatory single-family home zoning.<\/p>\n

The Montgomery County Planning Board believes it is about time Montgomery County joined a national movement to break free from outdated laws that constrain housing supply and prices too many people out of the market.<\/p>\n

On June 13, the Planning Board voted to recommend that the Montgomery County Council relax single-family zoning<\/a> and unravel decades-old rules restricting large swaths of the county to one single-family home per lot. The county would be a pioneer in Maryland to broaden the permitted housing types in most residential areas.<\/p>\n

Not enough room for all<\/h2>\n

The 1990s saw a sharp drop-off in new home construction in the county \u2013 40,000 fewer homes were built compared to the 1980s. The 2000s have continued the trend<\/p>\n

The supply crunch has led to skyrocketing prices. Last year, detached houses in Montgomery County sold for an average of $970,000 \u2013 twice the national average. Not surprisingly, Montgomery County has seen its middle-income population decrease by more than 25,000 people since 2005, as the price of homeownership has increasingly become out-of-reach for these residents. Consistent with this, Maryland\u2019s housing secretary Jacob Day recently noted that about a third of younger residents are considering leaving the state because of high housing costs.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Montgomery County has little open land left to build on and, with detached housing composing almost half of the county\u2019s housing stock, too few options to offer. People of all ages and income levels need more \u201cmiddle\u201d choices to bridge the gap between high-rise apartment buildings and single-family detached houses.<\/p>\n

The kinds of smaller, less expensive homes that many people seek \u2013 duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhouses and small apartment buildings \u2013 are illegal to build in most of the DC suburbs, including Montgomery County. Even when someone can afford to rent or buy a home, few if any are available in the right size, price, and location.
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