E-bike rebate programs have been popular and successful across the US – Most daily trips that Marylanders make are within bikeable distances. Electric-assist bicycles, or e-bikes, can extend the reach of bikes to more people, more destinations, and more trips that are often done by car. Denver, Colorado’s nationally recognized e-bike rebate program in less than a year after it began, helped residents replace over 100,000 miles of car trips per week. The State of Colorado last year launched a popular statewide program.
Category: Resources
Comments on draft Priority Climate Action Plan (CPRG PCAP)
Please consider these comments on DEQ’s draft Priority Climate Action Plan and recommendations for the agency’s follow-on Comprehensive Climate Action Plan.
Testimony: FY2025 Capital Budget for Department of Housing and Community Development (MD, Support)
We wish to express our strong support for the proposed capital budget that will make critical investments in rental housing programs and community revitalization. The FY25 capital budget proposes $110 million in rental housing support, doubling what was provided in the last budget. This would create thousands of desperately needed quality homes for low- and moderate-income families. This investment provides essential funding to the successful Rental Housing Works (RHW) program.
Testimony: Performance Oversight for the Department of Housing and Community Development and Housing Production Trust Fund (DC)
We wish to express our strong support for the HPTF, and urge the Council to remain committed to this essential tool for addressing our acute housing affordability challenges. Without it, we would be so much farther behind, leaving thousands of families without the homes they now enjoy. DC’s strong commitment to preserving and producing affordable housing is one of the leading efforts in the country. While our housing affordability challenges are severe, the HPTF provides irreplaceable capacity to address our needs.
CSG in the News: A law to get climate and transportation on the same page in Maryland
Maryland estimates it must invest about $1 billion a year in measures to quickly reduce planet-warming pollution to safe levels, which will provide benefits like lower energy costs and less flooding for its residents. However, if the state simultaneously spends billions in public funds on highway expansion, that makes it harder to achieve those climate goals. That problem is what the Maryland Transportation and Climate Alignment Act (TCA) aims to address – making sure transportation projects do not worsen climate pollution and giving people options to travel more affordably and sustainably.
Testimony: NHP Elm Gardens Redevelopment (DC, Support)
We wish to express our strong support for Case No. 23-19. We are pleased to support this Planned Unit Development (PUD) to facilitate a tenant and non-profit-led redevelopment of an aging 36-unit rental apartment building into a new, 4-story 100% affordable, accessible 80-unit building. These units would include 36 replacement units and 44 new homes. The 44 new units would serve households earning 50% MFI or less. Eight units in the building would be reserved as permanent supportive housing to formerly unhoused people.
Testimony: FY25 Capital Budget and FY25-30 Capital Improvements Program (Montgomery County)
We are pleased to see a major commitment to affordable housing production and preservation in the proposed budget, and urge you to support these appropriations in full. The Housing Initiative Fund and Non-Profit Preservation Fund are essential tools to sustain the work of affordable housing providers. Providing robust funding to these initiatives must be a priority to ensure that we do not let opportunities to provide affordable housing slip through the cracks. The level of annual funding proposed in this year’s CIP appropriately reflects the urgency of our housing shortage and the scale of our housing need, and should represent a benchmark for future years.
Testimony: Reducing parking requirements for affordable housing near transit (DC, Support with amendments)
We wish to express our support for Case No. 23-17 in two ways.
1) We support the recommended text amendment to reduce parking requirements for publicly assisted affordable dwelling units near transit, though we urge the commission to revise upward the threshold for relieving small projects of a parking requirement burden to 50 units rather than the 40 units proposed.
2) We ask the Zoning Commission to take a more significant step by eliminating parking requirements for affordable housing units, at least near transit.
Testimony: Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment (Support)
We support the draft Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment, which outlines a vision for an inclusive, environmentally resilient, and vibrant community with improved access to parks and amenities and an abundance of housing that supports the continued affordability and unique diversity of this plan area.
CSG Recommendations for Wizards/Capitals Arena Study
We are pleased to see that Alexandria is doing extensive outreach and sharing of information with the community, but we also urge our elected officials in the region to fully evaluate the impacts, costs, and benefits of the proposed project and site as compared to retaining the arena in DC. This includes transportation, environment, demographic, tax, financial risks, and other factors.