Issue Position: Affordable Housing

Issue Position

According to the latest Census approximately 31% of the housing in Maryland was renter occupied. Similarly, in Montgomery County, 30% of the housing is renter occupied. Here in District 20, renters make up closer to %50 of our population -- making tenets rights an all-important issue facing our community.

RENT STABILIZATION
While local jurisdictions in Maryland have the ability to enact stabilization laws, many fail to do so and the results can be debilitating for our most financially vulnerable neighbors. Municipalities like Takoma Park have lead the way and have enacted legislation that only allows landlords to increase rent by a percentage equal to the current year's increase in the Consumer Price Index-All Urban Consumers (CPI-U). Montgomery County has also make some tremendous strides forward, and while the County has no statutory prohibition on rent increases, the County does issues annual guidance that tags rate increases to the Consumer Price Index for the previous year for the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area (for 2013 that rate was 4%).
We need to protect our renters state-wide and that's I'll work to pass legislation that will emplace reasonable restrictions on rate increases to protect our most vulnerable neighbors.

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