Thank you to everyone who attended our Housing for All Action on Tuesday, April 30th! 200 of us packed the room with three of our County Councilmembers to show our support for affordable housing.
We engaged with Councilmembers Pickard, Rodvien, and Smith and built a larger table to make our voices heard. We told the Councilmembers that we need an MPDU (Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit) bill to set aside homes in new developments to be affordable for people with modest incomes.
An MPDU bill would help more of us, our family, friends, and community to live and thrive in Anne Arundel County. As Ryan McDonald, the proud owner of an MPDU in Annapolis, said: “This policy is an opportunity to acknowledge the inequities that exist in our housing system and begin to right some of these wrongs.”
Photo credit: Grafton Johnson
Jerome Butler, a Turnaround Thursday participant, also shared his struggles finding a 2-bedroom apartment he could afford to rent so he could have custody of his son.
Councilmembers Pickard and Rodvien are part of a committee working on a new MPDU bill, and we asked them for a timeline to get it passed. While neither of them committed to a timeline, Councilmember Pickard said she hoped to get the bill passed by September. Councilmember Smith also said he would vote for the MPDU bill.
Councilmembers Pickard, Rodvien, and Smith. Photo credit: Grafton Johson.
In addition to our Councilmembers, we had other key stakeholders at the action. Kevin Haines from the Maryland Building Industry Association shared the housing developer perspective. Special guest Shane Phillips, author of The Affordable City, spoke on the importance of housing supply, stability, and subsidy policies to help people live and thrive in our county. Erin Karpewicz from Arundel Community Development Services explained the county’s existing affordable housing programs and how they impact people’s lives, while acknowledging the need for more policies like MPDU.
We will continue to follow up with our Councilmembers, using our organized people power, to insist on the passage of an MPDU bill and additional affordable housing policies, because we believe in supporting our neighbors and building a livable county for everyone.
Thank you to our Housing Team, Floor Team, and everyone who attended for making this action a success.
Check out news coverage of the action here.
