There is a letter below you need to send to your Councilmember. Why? A few weeks ago, the Growth Action Network asked in an op-ed in the Capital-Gazette if the Anne Arundel County Council has the courage to embrace affordable housing.
Sadly, so far, the answer is no.
Mr. Pittman’s original Essential Worker Housing Act addressed the real needs for affordable housing, but the Democratic majority on the Council caved on the strongest and most important provisions of the bill with a big wet kiss for developers, reducing the number of single family affordable homes in favor of townhouses instead.
Why is this important? In these affordable homes, rents would be under $2,000 for an eligible family of four; sale prices would be just over $300,000, affordable for most of the essential workers who have the greatest need and the smallest supply of housing in the county.
There is still time to get this bill back on track. Visit our GAN website https://www.aacounty.org/sites/default/files/2023-10/78-23.pdf to read the amended bill and write to your council member.
Copy this text below and send it to your Councilmember or all of them. Adressess in order below for Council Reps from Districts 1 through 7:
Dear Councilmembers,
Thank you for restoring affordable housing priority to those employed in or by the County.
But that's not enough. Now please stand up to developers and amend the Essential Workers Housing Act (Bill 78-23) to:
require single family detached affordable housing be built in every development of quarter acre or smaller lots zoned R5
restore the 3% fee if no affordable housing is to be built
set the date to implement the bill on the date of enactment to developers can’t sneak in under the deadline, and start accepting development applications only after the county staff has time to get ready
And then when you run again to elected office, use the public campaign funding mechanism you approved this year to increase small donations, limit large donations from development interests, and receive matching funding. I hope you have the courage to stop the wet kiss for developers, to get big money out of our campaigns, and to get the legislative branch back on track to serving citizens needs rather than big money donors.
Signed:
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