Fact or Crap: Affordable Housing Edition

Posted on by Jenny

Disclaimer: it has become commonplace that whenever I correct misinformation regarding housing, affordable or otherwise, people demand to know if I have a financial stake in the development or real estate industry or other conflicts of interest. Let the record show that aside from owning a home in Howard County, I have no financial stake in real estate or development whatsoever. I simply believe in getting people housed, and I read a lot. So shut it.

A long time ago, a coworker of mine received a Fact or Crap daily tearaway calendar for Christmas. We would all gather each morning, listen to him read the statement of the day, then decide if it was true or not. We’d keep score of who got it right. It was fun, and every now and then, we’d learn something new – often by having our presuppositions invalidated.

Misinformation is a very real problem in our society that has been aided and abetted by social media. Some people generate and propagate falsehoods and propaganda intentionally, in order to accomplish a goal (thanks, Russia). Others, though, read garbage, decide it sounds good, and share it as fact without doing their homework. Either way, the impact is the same, as false information takes root in hearts and minds and influences public opinion. Today, we’re going to play a little Fact or Crap regarding affordable housing in Howard County. Because I did, in fact, do my homework.

Fact or Crap #1: We don’t need affordable housing in a wealthy county like ours.

CRAP. The affordable housing crises faced by local jurisdictions and the nation at large are the result of home prices outpacing income growth, so the general affluence of an area does not mean there aren’t people struggling to afford housing. According to HCPSS, nearly 24% of students are eligible to receive Free and Reduced-Price Meals (FARMs). To qualify for FARMs, a household of four must have an annual income of no more than $48,470. Furthermore, the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows that the annual income needed to afford a three-bedroom unit (reasonable for a family of four) in Howard County is $71k. This demonstrates clearly that there are families in our community that struggle to afford housing.

Fact or Crap #2: Affordable housing brings more crime and lowers property values.

TOTAL CRAP. This is not true. Not at all. So stop saying that. It’s gross.

Fact or Crap #3: Howard County lets developers do whatever they want.

CRAP. Howard County is a by-right development jurisdiction. This means that as long as a developer’s proposed project is permitted by the zoning regulations in place for the land, it does not require legislative action to move forward. (Changes to land use or zoning do require legislative action.) However, this does not mean that developers can do anything they want. Howard County zoning regulations are complex, inclusionary zones necessitate compliance with affordable housing requirements, and our recently-strengthened Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) requires that projects meet certain public infrastructure tests, such as school capacity tests, in order to proceed. Don’t believe me? Check out this list of developments that are currently unable to move forward due to school capacity test failures.

Fact or Crap #4: Howard County is always giving handouts to developers.

CRAP. Affordable housing is not like other housing. It is financed differently from other projects, and when private developers are doing the building, projects often involve tax credits or incentives (e.g., tax abatements, density bonuses, etc.) that help subsidize the cost burden inherent in offering housing at below-market rates. This is not a “handout.” This is basic economics, and it is how local governments work out mutually beneficial agreements with private builders to get desperately needed affordable housing. All avenues must be pursued for affordable housing, and private developers – in addition to 100% public housing and nonprofit building – play a role.

Fact or Crap #5: Howard County lets developers use fee-in-lieu and other loopholes to get out of affordable housing or APFO requirements.

CRAP–ish. Developers do sometimes pay fee-in-lieu as a form of alternative compliance with Moderate Income Housing Unit (MIHU) requirements that come with inclusionary housing zones. However, this is not a “get out of jail free card” or “avoidance of affordable housing obligations” as some tend to characterize it. Fee-in-lieu is a useful policy tool in the affordable housing toolbox, because sometimes the specific circumstances of a project make it infeasible to have MIHU units on site, and fee-in-lieu instead creates revenue that is used for other important low-income housing assistance programs. This added flexibility is prudent, because while MIHU units are needed and important, they are still unaffordable to low-income families. Please note that fee-in-lieu is not meant to replace the cost of building a unit; rather, they represent the delta between the market price and MIHU price of a unit.

On the topic of APFO, Howard County will consider exemptions from APFO school capacity tests for affordable housing developments meeting certain criteria. The purpose of this is to balance the county’s need to maintain adequate school capacity with the need for more affordable housing. These exemptions go before the County Council for approval on a case-by-case basis. The Robinson Overlook project in Columbia is one that recently received an APFO exemption. In that case, it was decided that the desperate need for affordable housing, especially in the River Hill area, was worth the trade-off of additional students in an overcrowded school district.

Fact or Crap #6: Dense, multifamily housing is terrible for the environment and will overcrowd the schools.

CRAP. Smart growth principles – such as mixed-use zoning, walkable communities, and compact design – are actually more environmentally friendly. One of the more obvious ways is by cutting down on suburban sprawl, which increases the reliance on gas-powered vehicles for long commutes.

Regarding school capacity, the fact is that multifamily developments actually yield much fewer students than single-family detached developments by a ratio of about 1 to 5. Not only that, but year over year, HCPSS receives more new students from turnover of existing housing compared to new construction (2020 Feasibility Study, page 9). HCPSS uses a very sophisticated algorithm for producing student yield projections, which has been analyzed by external consultants and found to be sound and accurate.

Arguments about school crowding and environmental concerns are not usually based in fact, but are often used as a convenient excuse to oppose new, and especially affordable, housing. Let’s take a look at Robinson Overlook in Columbia as an example. In 2019, Robinson Overlook was projected to add only about 30 students to HCPSS, but it was in the overcrowded Pointers Run Elementary School (PRES) district. At the public hearing for the project’s APFO affordable housing exemption, community members complained about the impact to the overcrowding at PRES. Yet, just a couple of months later, that same community opposed the redistricting of a large area of single-family detached homes from PRES to a nearby, less crowded elementary school, which would have greatly improved the crowding situation at PRES. While school overcrowding is a valid concern in many areas of Howard County, unfortunately it is often used disingenuously in affordable housing debates as people mistakenly attribute overcrowding to growth and development rather than APFO failures.

See this article about how Montgomery County’s housing moratorium did nothing to prevent growing school overcrowding – because the new students were coming from existing housing.

Fact or Crap #7: More development is bad.

CRAP. This statement is way too broad. Whether or not any individual housing development is “good” or “bad” depends on a multitude of situational factors such as need, location, infrastructure, financing, etc. However, in a general sense, refer to the basic economic principles of supply and demand. Restricting supply by stifling development, especially in high-demand areas like Howard County, drives up prices (see San Francisco), which exacerbates affordability crises. Allowing smart development while helping infrastructure keep adequate pace will help moderate market prices and maintain quality of life. See this article about how Montgomery County’s housing moratorium has driven up home prices and why growth is necessary for continued prosperity – while anti-development attitudes stifle it.

If you’d be interested in learning more about housing, I’ve learned a lot from reading Princeton sociologist Matthew Desmond’s Evicted, which details the rental and housing policy failures that lead to poverty and make it nearly impossible for tenants to dig their way out; and San Francisco housing advocate Randy Shaw’s Generation Priced Out, which covers affordable housing crises in metropolitan areas across the country, how they came to be, and how they might be solved.

At the end of the day, do your homework. Housing developments each have unique, specific circumstances that ought to be considered; they cannot be boiled down to “all development is bad, and all developers are greedy.” Affordable housing opportunities are few and far between in this county, and those projects need special consideration by folks who, like me, would like to see more people housed – social, financial, and physical health grows from having a stable, quality home in a great community like ours.

Additional Reading and Housing Advocacy: