The Housing Expansion and Affordability Act (SB 484, HB 538) Will make housing more affordable and accessible for Marylanders. As housing costs have risen in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more Marylanders have struggled to pay their rent or save up to buy a home. Increased costs are making it harder for families to get by and limit the growth of our economy. To tackle the housing crisis, we must bolster supply. This bill seeks to expand the construction of new housing, particularly affordable housing, by removing local zoning barriers. It would remove local government barriers to the construction of affordable housing, provide increased density, and remove certain local limitations on projects. In addition, this bill would remove local zoning barriers to manufactured housing statewide.
The Housing and Community Development Financing Act (SB 483, HB 599) Will focus on strengthening state financing tools for housing construction and community development investments and has two primary provisions. The first would create a state Community Development Entity (CDE) called the Maryland Community Investment Corporation (MCIC). CDEs are able to utilize federal funding through the New Market Tax Credit to finance housing and community development projects. There are a number of existing CDEs in Maryland, but they are not required to use their funding for Maryland projects. The second major provision would strengthen the state’s Strategic Demolition and Smart Growth Impact Fund. This Fund is intended to make ‘gray field’ projects built to replace existing buildings more viable, thereby both increasing housing and other development while preventing sprawl development. The bill would expand eligible uses for the fund to include debt payment and credit enhancement.
The Renters' Rights Stabilization Act (SB 481, HB 693) Will focus on strengthening renter’s rights. It has a number of provisions, including: Creation of an Office of Tenant Rights in the Department of Housing and Community Development responsible for providing renters with information about their rights under law; creation and dissemination of an online tenants bill of rights; reducing the allowable security deposit for renters in Maryland from two month’s rent to one month’s rent; providing renters with a right of first refusal upon sale of a rental property, essentially allowing a renter the option to purchase the property themselves rather than it being sold to another landlord; increasing the eviction filing fee surcharge from $8 to $93, thereby increasing the total cost of filing an eviction from $15 to $100, and preventing landlords from passing through the costs of the fee to tenants; barring evictions in extreme weather or other dangerous conditions; and modifying the state’s new rental voucher program to provide further prioritization of vouchers for families with children under the age of 5 and for pregnant women.
Mental Health – Emergency Evaluation and Involuntary Admission Procedures and Assisted Outpatient Treatment Programs (The Behavioral Health Services Act) (SB 453, HB 576) An omnibus behavioral health bill which will include a number of important reforms to help ensure that Marylanders who need behavioral health services are able to get them. The central component of the bill will be the legalization of Assisted Outpatient Treatment (AOT), a process used in 47 other states to allow for court-ordered outpatient treatment for individuals with severe mental illness who are not compliant with treatment and whose lack of compliance poses a potential danger to themselves or others. In addition to AOT, the bill addresses peace officer emergency transport, the scope of practice for psychiatric nurse practitioners, and the required admission of emergency patients.