The Montgomery County Council will soon be faced with a decision on a proposed zoning initiative that, if passed, would allow duplexes, triplexes and smaller apartment buildings to be built in single-family home neighborhoods.
The Attainable Housing Strategies initiative outlines recommendations to the County Council for zoning changes in single-family home zones. The changes, which the council would have to approve, aim to provide more housing options and opportunities, especially for middle-income residents, according to Planning Director Jason Sartori.
The Montgomery County Planning Board voted to approve the initiative in June, sending it to the council. However, no formal legislation or timeline has been developed yet. According to Sartori, council staff and county planners will prepare a draft zoning text amendment for the council to take up in the fall, followed by public forums and hearings to allow community members to share input on the proposed changes.
“When it comes to the housing shortage that we face, we need to do something,” council President Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) said in support of the proposed initiative at a July 9 press briefing.
In recent years, the county has seen a decline in its population of middle-income earners and increases in its low- and high-income populations, indicating a lack of suitable housing options that are affordable or attainable, according to Sartori.
According to Montgomery Planning data, the county lost more than 26,000 middle-income residents from 2005 to 2022, while gaining nearly 88,000 low-income residents and 67,000 high-income residents in the same timeframe.
In the county, middle income is defined as a family of four earning an income three to five times the poverty level, according to the planning department. The 2024 poverty level is $31,200 for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Low-income families in the county earn less than three times the poverty level and high-income families earn five or more times the poverty level.
While Friedson has been supportive of the proposed initiative, he told council staffers during Monday’s Parks, Housing and Planning Committee work session that they needed to clarify what the Planning Board is actually recommending before legislation could come before the council.
He described some of the proposed language and regulations in the initiative as confusing and “doublespeak.”
“I don’t think we need to wait on obtaining information. Knowledge is power here, so let’s get a handle on what we’re talking about,” Friedson said.
Councilmember and fellow committee member Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) shared a similar perspective during the work session.
“This has to be part of a [larger] conversation and I’m grateful to council staff for putting a pause here to analyze this further,” she said.
Regionally, efforts to create similar “missing middle” housing regulations have been controversial. The board of supervisors in Arlington County, Virginia, voted in March 2023 to end single-family-only zoning, facing both praise and criticism from residents and resulting in a lawsuit.
WAMU reported that trial arguments began this month after nine Arlington homeowners filed a lawsuit against the county over its new zoning policy, arguing the county made the decision without conducting an appropriate study on the potential impacts on communities.
When asked at the July 9 press briefing about such a situation occurring in Montgomery County, Friedson said he is not worried about lawsuits.
“Lawsuits are not something that I’m thinking about or focused on,” he said. “Policy is what I’m thinking about and focused on, and a housing crisis that we do have to address.”
Alex Rossello, director of communications for Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington (AOBA), said in an interview Wednesday that while the organization has not yet weighed in on the initiative officially, he sees it as a positive.
“It would enable [developers] to build more multifamily housing to meet what is still a substantial demand,” Rossello said. “There’s not a silver bullet … but this would help.”
Rossello also noted that the policy aligns with themes in legislation brought forward by Gov. Wes Moore (D) during the 2024 Maryland General Assembly session to increase access to affordable housing.