2026 Candidate Questionnaire
County Council District 7
Harold Maldonado (R)
Website: haroldmaldonado.com
Find all candidate questionnaires here.
Housing Leadership
In your view, why are many Montgomery County residents struggling to afford housing?
Many Montgomery County residents are struggling to afford housing because demand has consistently outpaced supply in one of the nation’s highest-income housing markets, creating sustained upward pressure on both rents and home prices.
First, Montgomery County is an extremely high-income region, ranking among the top counties nationally for median household income. That wealth drives strong housing demand, but it also pushes prices upward, especially when supply is limited. When incomes are high, landlords and sellers can command higher rents and prices, which sets a new baseline for the entire market.
Second, the County has experienced a long-term housing shortage and slow production of new units, especially relative to population and job growth. Only a small share of housing stock has been newly built in recent decades, and development constraints—such as zoning limits and limited buildable land—have slowed expansion. This structural shortage means there simply are not enough units to meet demand.
Third, housing costs have been further driven by broader regional pressures across the DMV, including rising construction costs, higher mortgage rates, and strong investor demand in rental housing. These factors reduce affordability even for households with solid incomes.
Finally, the result is a widening gap: a large share of renters are now cost-burdened, meaning they spend more than 30%—and in many cases over 50%—of their income on housing, even in a wealthy county.
What is one housing initiative you would plan to spearhead, if elected?
One housing initiative I would spearhead is a “Fast-Track Workforce Housing Expansion Initiative” aimed at significantly increasing the supply of affordable and middle-income housing by reducing the time, cost, and regulatory barriers to new construction in Montgomery County.
The core problem driving housing unaffordability is not just prices—it is insufficient supply. My initiative would focus on streamlining the development process for workforce housing projects near major transit corridors, job centers, and existing infrastructure. This would include expedited permitting timelines, reduced bureaucratic delays, and a standardized approval pathway for projects that meet defined affordability and density targets.
In addition, I would support targeted zoning reforms to allow greater by-right development of multifamily and mixed-income housing in appropriate areas, particularly near Metro stations and commercial hubs. This would help increase supply where demand is highest without expanding sprawl.
To ensure accountability, the initiative would track measurable outcomes such as units approved, units delivered, average time-to-permit, and affordability levels achieved. Projects that fail to deliver on commitments would not continue receiving streamlined status. The goal is simple: increase housing supply at scale while maintaining responsible planning standards, so that teachers, first responders, young professionals, and working families can afford to live in the communities they serve.
Ultimately, the most effective way to address the housing crisis is not more restrictions—it is building more housing, faster, and in the right places.
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 in Montgomery County plays a central role in both constraining housing supply and increasing housing costs, primarily by limiting how and where new housing can be built.
First, much of the County is still dominated by low-density, single-family zoning, especially in areas with strong schools, transit access, and job centers. This restricts the ability to add duplexes, townhomes, or multifamily housing in high-demand neighborhoods. When supply is artificially limited in the places where people most want to live, prices rise faster than incomes.
Second, the development approval process is often lengthy, discretionary, and uncertain, even for projects that comply with zoning rules. This increases carrying costs for developers, which are ultimately passed on to renters and buyers. It also discourages smaller or mid-sized developers who cannot absorb long delays or regulatory risk.
Third, zoning constraints have contributed to a mismatch between job growth and housing availability. As employment centers expand along corridors like I-270 and near Metro stations, housing supply has not kept pace, increasing competition for existing units and driving up rents.
At the same time, zoning policy is not the only factor—interest rates, construction costs, and regional demand all matter—but zoning is one of the few levers local government directly controls. When supply is restricted, even in a wealthy county like Montgomery, the predictable outcome is higher prices and reduced affordability over time.
What changes would you support to Montgomery County’s zoning policies to support greater housing affordability?
Current zoning policy in Montgomery County significantly shapes the housing market by maintaining a largely low-density, single-family residential framework in many of the county’s most desirable and high-demand areas. From my perspective, the key issue is that the existing zoning structure provides stability and predictability for communities, but it also naturally limits how quickly the housing supply can expand in response to population and job growth.
By preserving existing zoning patterns, the County ensures that neighborhoods retain their established character, infrastructure capacity is not overstressed, and development remains consistent with long-standing community planning goals. However, one consequence of not substantially changing zoning policy is that new housing supply remains constrained, particularly in areas near employment centers, transit corridors, and high-performing school districts where demand is strongest.
When supply growth is limited while demand continues to rise, the result is upward pressure on both home prices and rents. This dynamic is not unique to Montgomery County, but it is especially pronounced in high-income, high-demand regions like ours.
Even without major zoning changes, affordability pressures are influenced by broader regional and economic factors such as interest rates, construction costs, and population demand. However, maintaining the current zoning approach means that housing production will likely continue to lag behind demand, and affordability challenges will persist unless addressed through other policy tools such as targeted development incentives or improved permitting efficiency.
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 (subsidized) housing plays a critical stabilizing role in Montgomery County’s housing ecosystem by ensuring that the lowest-income residents are not completely priced out of the region.
In a high-cost county like Montgomery, market-rate housing alone does not serve all income levels. Even moderate rents can be unaffordable for households working in essential but lower-wage jobs such as childcare, retail, food service, home health care, and certain public-sector support roles. Subsidized housing helps fill this gap by providing income-based rent levels, typically capped as a percentage of household income.
These units are essential for several key groups:
Seniors on fixed incomes
Individuals with disabilities
Very low-income working families
Residents experiencing temporary financial hardship
Without affordable housing programs, many of these residents would face displacement out of the county entirely, which can increase commuting burdens, destabilize communities, and reduce workforce availability for essential local services.
From a systems perspective, subsidized housing also helps prevent homelessness, reduces pressure on emergency and social services, and supports economic diversity by ensuring that Montgomery County remains accessible to people across income levels—not only high-income households.
However, affordable housing alone cannot solve the broader housing challenge. It represents a targeted safety-net tool, not a replacement for broader housing supply. Its effectiveness depends on proper funding, long-term maintenance, and strategic placement near transportation, jobs, and services.
b. Market-rate (unsubsidized) housing
Market-rate (unsubsidized) housing plays the primary and dominant role in Montgomery County’s housing system. It is the segment of housing that is built, owned, and priced by the private market without direct government subsidy, and it accounts for the vast majority of housing supply in the county.
Its core function is to meet the broad middle and upper segments of housing demand, including households with a wide range of incomes who are not eligible for subsidized housing but still require access to housing choices. This includes working professionals, teachers, healthcare workers, public employees, and families whose incomes are above affordable housing thresholds but still constrained by regional cost pressures.
Market-rate housing is also the main driver of new housing production. Developers build these units in response to market demand, and this segment determines overall supply growth in the county. When market-rate housing supply is constrained, competition increases across the entire housing system, which can push up rents and home prices even for lower-cost units.
Importantly, market-rate housing provides:
Mobility for residents who change jobs or life circumstances
A wide range of housing types (apartments, townhomes, single-family homes)
Geographic flexibility across employment centers, transit corridors, and suburban neighborhoods
The majority of rental options in the county
From a broader economic perspective, a strong market-rate housing sector is essential for retaining workforce talent and supporting job growth, since most employers rely on employees who live in this segment of the market.
What is one policy change in each area that you would pursue, if elected?
a. Affordable (subsidized) housing
One policy change I would pursue for affordable (subsidized) housing is the creation of a performance- and location-based funding model for subsidized housing development and preservation.
Instead of distributing affordable housing resources broadly or primarily through project-by-project approvals, the County should prioritize funding and incentives for developments that meet clear, measurable outcomes—especially those that place units near transit corridors, job centers, schools, and essential services. This ensures that subsidized housing is not only available, but also integrated into areas where residents can realistically access employment and opportunity.
Under this approach, County support would be tied to:
Cost efficiency per unit produced or preserved
Long-term affordability guarantees
Proximity to transit and employment hubs
Demonstrated ability to serve high-need populations (seniors, disabled residents, very low-income households)
This shift would improve accountability and ensure that limited public resources are used where they generate the greatest impact. It would also encourage partnerships with nonprofit and private developers who can deliver units more efficiently, while still maintaining strong affordability requirements.
Importantly, this does not reduce the County’s commitment to affordable housing—it strengthens it by ensuring every dollar invested produces maximum measurable housing stability for the residents who need it most.
b. Market-rate (unsubsidized) housing
One policy change I would pursue for market-rate (unsubsidized) housing is a comprehensive permitting and approval streamlining reform for by-right residential development.
The goal would be to significantly reduce the time, cost, and uncertainty associated with building market-rate housing projects that already comply with zoning and land-use rules. Right now, even fully compliant projects often face lengthy review timelines, multiple layers of discretionary approvals, and inconsistent administrative delays. This adds substantial carrying costs, which ultimately get passed on to renters and buyers in the form of higher housing prices.
Under this reform, the County would:
Establish strict timelines for development review and approvals
Reduce duplicative review steps across agencies
Expand staff accountability for meeting permitting deadlines
Prioritize administrative processing for housing projects that meet existing zoning requirements
The intent is not to change zoning policy, but to ensure that existing zoning capacity can actually be built out efficiently. When projects are delayed unnecessarily, supply is constrained artificially, which contributes directly to higher housing costs across the market.
By improving the efficiency of the approval process, Montgomery County can increase housing production within its current regulatory framework, helping to moderate price pressures without requiring major structural changes to land-use policy.
Transportation & Smart Growth
What would you do to prioritize transit frequency and access if elected?
If elected, I would prioritize transit frequency and access by focusing on reliability, efficiency, and smarter resource allocation within the existing transit system, rather than simply expanding costs without measurable performance gains.
First, I would work to improve bus service frequency on high-demand corridors by reallocating service hours from underperforming routes to routes with consistently high ridership. Many transit systems, including Montgomery County’s, have routes that are underutilized while others remain overcrowded or infrequent. A data-driven rebalancing would improve overall system performance without requiring major new spending.
Second, I would prioritize bus rapid transit (BRT) and dedicated lane expansion where feasible, particularly along major corridors such as Route 29, Georgia Avenue, and Veirs Mill Road. Increasing speed and reducing delay is often more effective than simply adding more buses.
Third, I would support better integration between transit and land-use planning, ensuring that new housing and commercial development is concentrated near frequent transit routes. This helps increase ridership, improve efficiency, and reduce dependence on car travel over time.
Finally, I would push for real-time performance accountability, including transparent reporting on on-time performance, route efficiency, and cost per rider, so funding decisions are based on measurable outcomes rather than historical allocations.
What would you do to ensure safe walking and biking access to transit, stores, schools and services for residents of existing and new housing?
To ensure safe walking and biking access to transit, schools, stores, and essential services, I would focus on targeted, high-impact infrastructure improvements that close real safety gaps in existing neighborhoods while requiring better planning for new development.
First, I would prioritize “last-mile safety corridors” around high-traffic destinations such as Metro stations, schools, and commercial centers. These are the areas where pedestrians and cyclists face the highest risk due to incomplete sidewalks, unsafe crossings, or high-speed vehicle traffic. The County should focus funding on filling sidewalk gaps, adding protected bike lanes where feasible, and upgrading crosswalks with better lighting, signals, and visibility.
Second, I would require that all new development projects include complete pedestrian and bike connectivity plans before approval, ensuring that new housing is directly and safely connected to transit stops, schools, and nearby services. Too often, development occurs without fully addressing how residents will safely move without a car.
Third, I would support data-driven safety prioritization, using crash data, pedestrian injury reports, and transit access gaps to guide infrastructure spending. This ensures that limited transportation dollars are directed to the areas of greatest need, rather than being spread too thinly across lower-impact projects.
Finally, I would improve coordination between transportation, planning, and public safety agencies to ensure that walkability and bike safety are treated as core infrastructure priorities, not secondary design features.
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?
To understand the “nuts and bolts” of housing policy implementation in Montgomery County and design effective solutions, I would rely on a combination of local data systems, regional housing and planning agencies, federal datasets, and on-the-ground stakeholders to ensure policy is both evidence-based and operationally realistic.
First, I would use core County and state data sources such as Montgomery County Planning Department housing reports, DHCA (Department of Housing and Community Affairs) program data, and CountyStat performance dashboards, which provide insight into housing supply, affordability trends, permitting timelines, and program outcomes. I would also incorporate U.S. Census Bureau (ACS) data and HUD housing affordability metrics to benchmark local conditions against regional and national trends.
Second, I would engage with key implementation agencies like DHCA, Planning Board staff, and permitting offices, since they directly understand where bottlenecks occur in approvals, financing, inspections, and compliance. These operational perspectives are critical for translating policy ideas into workable systems.
Third, I would consult a broad set of stakeholders, including:
Housing developers (both large and small-scale)
Nonprofit housing providers and advocates
Tenant associations and renter advocacy groups
Affordable housing finance experts and lenders
Regional peers in jurisdictions like Fairfax and Arlington for comparative best practices
Finally, I would look at academic research and policy organizations focused on housing supply and affordability, to evaluate which interventions have actually increased production or improved affordability in comparable high-cost regions.