Montgomery County's New Requirements For Moderately-Priced Units to Go Into Effect Soon

• September 17th 2018

by Nena Perry-Brown

The dearth of affordable housing in DC, particularly in certain swaths of the city, has been well-documented over the past year or so. Now, a nearby jurisdiction is attempting to address its own inequitable distribution of affordable units.

As of October 31st in Montgomery County, new residential developments in Montgomery County where the median income of at least 45 percent of the census tracts is 150 percent of the county median income must offer at least 15 percent of residences as moderately-priced dwelling units (MPDUs). The county's median income is $100,352.

The rule will apply to completed development applications submitted to the county, and will affect areas including Potomac, Darnestown, North Bethesda and Bethesda-Chevy Chase. The 15 percent MPDU requirement is already in place in downtown Bethesda based on the recently-enacted Sector Plan.

The Montgomery County Planning Department will review and update a map of where the higher MPDU requirement is applicable by January 1st. Also on that date, owners of developments with 11-19 residential units will be required to submit a payment to the Housing Initiative Fund; the minimum number of units is currently 20.

The rule changes come about a year after the county released the findings of a Rental Housing Study which identified areas of concern for the county's renter population. Montgomery County Council passed a bill with the new affordability requirements in July. This law also comes as a moratorium on new residential development was implemented for high-demand (and comparatively affordable) areas like Wheaton, Silver Spring and Takoma Park.

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/montgomery-county-new-requirements-for-affordable-units-to-go-into-effect-s/14446.