Montgomery County lawmakers have launched a new multipronged effort to spur housing production, including regulatory and financial incentives to convert vacant commercial buildings and, likely portending controversy, missing-middle upzoning of certain single-family-only areas.
County Council members Natali Fani-González and Andrew Friedson unveiled the package of legislative, regulatory and budgetary proposals, together dubbed “More Housing N.O.W.,” or New Options for Workers, on Jan. 28. It aims to encourage new residential building generally, with a particular eye toward “workforce” affordable housing.
“Our society is evolving and we as government have the duty of modernizing our housing policies to meet current realities,” Fani-González said in an emailed statement.
More Housing N.O.W. aims to help “build more homes that are affordable to teachers, firefighters, police officers, biotech and healthcare workers, and everyone in, or striving to be in, the middle class,” Fani-González and Friedson wrote in a Jan. 28 letter to their fellow city council members. In the world of housing, “workforce” commonly refers to this middle-income band — folks making too much to be considered low-income, but not enough to afford many market-rate options without stretching — though housing advocates often consider it a misnomer, since most low-income people have jobs.
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