2026 Candidate Questionnaire
County Executive
Evan Glass (D)
Website: evanglass.com
Find all candidate questionnaires here.
Housing Leadership
In your view, why are many Montgomery County residents struggling to afford housing?
Montgomery County residents are struggling to afford housing because we have not built enough of it. For decades, restrictive zoning has limited the types and locations of new homes, concentrating development in a handful of corridors while leaving most of the county off-limits to more options. The result is a supply shortage that drives up rents and home prices across the board. Rising construction costs, slow and costly permitting processes, and inadequate public investment in deeply affordable units have also compounded the problem. Meanwhile, our rent stabilization law, while well-intentioned, has contributed to a sharp decline in multifamily permitting. Montgomery County issued only 84 multifamily permits in 2025, compared to over 1,700 in Fairfax County during the same timeframe. Until we treat housing production as a core priority, affordability will remain out of reach for too many of our neighbors, including teachers, nurses, first responders, and the young people who grew up here and would like to stay.
What is one housing initiative you would plan to spearhead, if elected?
The main housing initiative I'd implement is simple: building more housing so our young people can afford to stay here, so our neighbors don't get priced out, and our tax base grows.
Zoning, Supply, and Housing Prices
In your view, how does current zoning policy in Montgomery County affect the supply and price of housing?
Current zoning policy limits where and what types of housing can be built, which directly constrains supply and keeps prices high. What we need more of are duplexes, triplexes, townhomes and small apartment buildings in areas that can accommodate them – especially along our transit corridors. The communities that bear the greatest burden are moderate- and lower-income households who are priced out entirely or forced to spend an unsustainable share of their income on housing.
What changes would you support to Montgomery County’s zoning policies to support greater housing affordability?
I support increasing density in the areas with the greatest potential: near Metro and Purple Line stations, MARC corridors, future BRT lines, and major downtown activity centers. These are the areas where new housing can be built without requiring a car for daily life, and where infrastructure already exists to support more residents.
I also support allowing duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, and townhomes in more parts of the county, particularly along transit corridors. These smaller types of housing are beneficial for more individuals and can be built with minimal disruption.
I support the Moore administration's statewide effort to streamline permitting and reform zoning, and as County Executive I will cooperate fully with those efforts. I will also direct the Department of Permitting Services to incorporate policies that reduce barriers to construction, including legalizing single-stair buildings, and I will aggressively pursue office-to-residential conversions where feasible.
Affordable & Market-Rate Housing
Please explain what you see as the role that each of these types of housing play in the housing landscape in Montgomery County, and the needs they fill for Montgomery County residents:
a. Affordable (subsidized) housing
Affordable housing is essential infrastructure for a healthy, diverse community. It ensures that residents with low and moderate incomes, including those earning up to 80 percent of Area Median Income, can live in Montgomery County without spending an excessive share of their household earnings on rent. Subsidized housing also includes permanent supportive housing for residents experiencing homelessness, and workforce housing for the people who deliver our county's essential services. Without a robust affordable housing stock, we risk becoming a county that excludes working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and our most vulnerable neighbors.
b. Market-rate (unsubsidized) housing
Market-rate housing plays a critical role in expanding overall supply. When market-rate housing is built in sufficient quantities, it relieves upward pressure on rents across all price points and creates more options for households at a range of incomes. A healthy housing market requires both: subsidized units for those who cannot afford market rents, and sufficient market-rate production to prevent scarcity from driving costs beyond reach. The two are not in opposition; they are both necessary.
What is one policy change in each area that you would pursue, if elected?
a. Affordable (subsidized) housing
I will prioritize dedicated, predictable revenue streams for the Housing Initiative Fund so that deeply affordable and supportive housing is treated as core infrastructure rather than a discretionary budget line. Operating subsidies are just as important as capital construction dollars, and I will work to protect them from year-to-year budget volatility while leveraging state and federal resources to stretch local dollars further.
b. Market-rate (unsubsidized) housing
I will work with the Council to update the rent stabilization law to restore the incentive environment for multifamily construction. The current framework has contributed to a dramatic decline in the permitting and construction of new housing. I will pursue changes that protect renters from unjust eviction through Good Cause Eviction protections while creating the regulatory conditions that allow homebuilders to create the housing our community needs.
Transportation & Smart Growth
What would you do to prioritize transit frequency and access if elected?
As Chair of the Transportation and Environment Committee, I have spent years working to align our transit agencies and deliver real improvements. As County Executive, I will build on that record in three ways. First, I will prioritize constructing true Bus Rapid Transit on key corridors, with dedicated lanes, transit signal priority, and high-quality stations, so BRT is fast and competitive with driving. Second, I will aggressively lobby the state to expand MARC service, including all-day, two-way frequencies so that Montgomery County residents can rely on it beyond peak commuting. Third, I will use the County Executive's office to coordinate MCDOT, Ride On, WMATA, and land-use planning so that transit investments and housing growth reinforce each other, particularly as the Purple Line opens in 2027.
What would you do to ensure safe walking and biking access to transit, stores, schools and services for residents of existing and new housing?
Safe streets are foundational to smart growth. I authored and passed the Safe Streets Act and the Bicycle Safety Act during my time on the Council, and as County Executive I will accelerate their implementation. That means funding street redesigns that prioritize pedestrians and cyclists, expanding protected bike infrastructure, removing travel lanes where necessary to build dedicated bus and bike lanes, and ensuring that first- and last-mile connections to transit are treated as a core goal rather than an afterthought. Equity will guide these investments: I will prioritize safe access in communities that have historically been underserved by our transportation network.
Community Input & Stakeholder Engagement
What organizations, stakeholders, datasets, or other sources of information would you turn to to understand the nuts and bolts of housing policy implementation, and how to craft effective policies that meet Montgomery County’s housing needs?
Effective housing policy requires both data and direct relationships. On the data side, I would draw on the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments housing production and permitting surveys, data from the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation, Montgomery County's own planning and permitting records, and regional affordability metrics from HUD and the Urban Institute. I would also work closely with the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and the Moore administration's housing team.
On the stakeholder side, I would engage housing nonprofits and community development organizations active in Montgomery County, tenant advocacy groups, homebuilder and realtor associations, labor and building trades, and faith communities that serve low-income residents. I would also draw on the expertise of organizations like Montgomery for All and the Coalition for Smarter Growth, which have consistently brought rigorous, evidence-based analysis to land use and transit policy in our region. Finally, I would convene regular input processes with residents themselves, using statistically valid county-wide surveys alongside neighborhood engagement to ensure that the voices shaping policy reflect the full diversity of Montgomery County.