FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 7, 2025

CONTACT:
Carrie Kisicki, Montgomery Advocacy Manager
carrie@smartergrowth.net

CSG Response to Councilmember Jawando – Montgomery County Can’t Afford to Wait for Action on Housing Affordability

ROCKVILLE, MD — We are deeply disappointed by Councilmember Will Jawando’s statements on the Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative (AHSI). His statements fail to recognize the reality of our county’s housing crisis and lack of sufficient housing options, and do not address the full range and potential of the AHSI recommendations.

In November 2024, the median sale price of a single-family detached home in Montgomery County was $791,500. The median sale price of a townhome was $500,000, while the median sale price of a condo was $270,000.

Smaller, multi-family units like those proposed in the Attainable Housing Strategies recommendations can be built and sold more affordably than single-family detached homes. Expanding housing choices also offers creative pathways and opportunities to produce subsidized affordable homes, a feat that is financially prohibitive to accomplish with single-family detached homes. 

In recommending an indefinite pause on the AHSI recommendations, Councilmember Jawando would prevent these less expensive, more accessible types of homes from being built and leave in place decades-old restrictions that allow only our most expensive and exclusive housing type to be built in many neighborhoods. 

In addition, AHSI’s recommendations for medium- and large-scale housing along county growth corridors have great potential to meaningfully address our housing shortage and offer more affordable, sustainably located homes. These important recommendations are not addressed by Councilmember Jawando’s statements, but would also be tabled if consideration of the AHSI is paused.

To support our county’s teachers, first responders, and essential workers, we need to offer homes that they can afford. To provide robust public services and retain and attract employers, we need a broader range of housing options to stabilize our tax base and stem the exodus of middle-class families who cannot afford homes in our county. 

The housing crisis is real, it is here today, and cannot be ignored. We encourage the Council to carry on its work on the Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative. The AHSI is based on years of research and community outreach, and the time to act is now.

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The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington, DC region advocating for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the region to grow and provide opportunities for all.

Coalition for Smarter Growth  — smartergrowth.net

Photo: Sonya Breehey