Oct 19

Oct 19 Providing Affordable Housing For Prince Georgians

Delivering On Our Proud Priorities: Diversify The Housing Market

By County Executive Angela Alsobrooks

Last week, we hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Woodyard Station to officially welcome this new housing development to Prince George’s County! Woodyard Station provides affordable housing to both seniors and families in our community. This ceremony was not only a celebration of this new development and its wonderful amenities, but also an opportunity for us to celebrate the progress we have made to preserve and expand affordable housing for Prince Georgians.

At the start of our administration in 2019, County Government leaders, agency personnel, and community leaders came together to develop our Proud Priorities and Promises Portfolio. These priorities represent our commitment to building and maintaining a 21st-century County Government infrastructure that improves the quality of life for Prince Georgians. We have been working hard since then. Today, I’m proud to say that of the 176 Proud Priorities and Promises we made to our residents, 164 of them are either completed or underway.

One of those priorities has been to create and preserve housing that is inclusive of residents of all income levels. The opening of Woodyard Station shows that our Proud Priorities are more than just items on a checklist. This new residential community in Clinton is proof that our progress is real, marking the third affordable housing development we have opened. We have also broken ground on six additional affordable housing projects.

We have been able to deliver on this promise thanks to the important work of our Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), who provided $3 million in HOME Investment Partnerships Program funding and a Payment in Lieu of Taxes to help make Woodyard Station a reality. This is just the latest in a long line of successes from DHCD. Thanks to their efforts, we have directly preserved and created over 3,300 affordable housing units since 2020. We were also able to launch the Right of First Refusal Program to help preserve 1,452 units of affordable housing since 2021.

In addition, we created the Right of First Refusal Loan Preservation Fund and immediately committed $15 million to the fund, with an additional $10 million provided by the State of Maryland. We have also distributed over $108.9 million in Emergency Rental Assistance and assisted over 10,900 County households to date. We have created and funded the Housing Investment Trust Fund in partnership with the County Council and committed the funding for the construction and rehabilitation of nine senior and multi-family apartment buildings, using over $19.4 million in trust fund financing and creating over 1,500 units of affordable housing.

This kind of forward momentum is only possible because of the powerful public-private partnerships we have established. We are grateful to have partners who also value affordable housing as much as we do. We recognize that the State of Maryland, development teams, finance institutions, architects, and construction companies all play a part in the success of building quality housing that people can afford. We are actively demonstrating what is possible when we partner with the private sector and leverage other public and private resources.

This culture of teamwork and collaboration is critical because affordable housing is a cornerstone of our economic development platform. Our vision of a stronger and better Prince George’s County must include all Prince Georgians, and that means quality, affordable housing. Our County is moving forward, and we are determined to do it together.