AIM Supports Montgomery County’s “More Housing NOW” Bill
Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt at the More Housing NOW press conference
AIM supports the “More Housing NOW” bill, recently introduced in Montgomery County, which would increase our housing options and help reduce housing costs.
The More Housing NOW (New Options for Workers) bill would take 5 important steps to increase the supply and affordability of housing:
Workforce Housing ZTA: Allow more residential building types along corridors with a workforce housing requirement.
Workforce Housing Opportunity Fund: New countywide fund to incentivize the construction of workforce units.
Office to Housing ZTA: Create an expedited approval process for projects that convert high-vacancy commercial properties to residential use.
Office to Housing PILOT Bill: Establish a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT) for conversion of high-vacancy commercial properties to residential use.
Budget: Double the County’s investment in the Homeowner Assistance Program from $4 million to $8 million in the FY26 Housing Initiative Fund (HIF).
At the press conference for the bill, Rev. Kristin Grassel Schmidt from Unitarian Universalist Church of Silver Spring testified: “More Housing NOW is a well-thought out approach to lower basic barriers and create more affordable housing in areas where it makes obvious sense… We can and should do better to shape public policy so that our community reflects the ideals so many of us cherish and promote.”
Affordable housing is the most frequent issue we at AIM hear about in our listening sessions with community members. We want Montgomery County to be a place where people who work in the county can afford to live in quality housing, and where families can afford to live and settle across generations.
We focus on 3 areas of affordable housing policy, based on Shane Phillips' book The Affordable City:
Supply: Build new, high-density transit-oriented housing and affordable housing.
Supply is imperative to stabilize housing prices in our region, and make sure that housing subsidy goes to those with the most need.Stability: Provide stability for families to continue living in Montgomery County across generations. Examples include preserving the quality of older, affordable housing stock and protecting renters’ rights.
Subsidy: Subsidy is necessary to supplement the housing costs for our lowest-income residents and to build affordable housing for the future.
Our housing crisis was decades in the making, and it will take many strategies for us to ensure that young adults, seniors, and working families can all afford to live here, which is why we need bills like More Housing NOW. We are excited about this bill and are advocating for it in the Montgomery County Council this winter and spring.
