Thank you for the opportunity to speak in support of the Attainable Housing Strategies Initiative on March 21, 2024. Montgomery for All was proud to offer our comments on behalf of our over 200 members who support more welcoming, inclusive, and sustainable communities in Montgomery County.

As you prepare to begin your worksessions on the initiative, we would like to ask that you consider the following recommendations.

Attainable housing embraces what makes Montgomery County an attractive place to live. We have high-quality schools, parks, libraries, public transit, and job opportunities. However, equitable access to these opportunities is limited because of zoning that gives preference to prohibitively expensive detached single-family homes.

By allowing faith institutions to build structures up to 60 feet if projects meet one of four affordability thresholds, this ZTA would provide more opportunities for the kind of abundant, more affordable housing that we so desperately need, led by long-standing members of the community such a project would take place in.

The planned zoning changes under the Takoma Park Minor Master Plan Amendment are an important step forward for Takoma Park and Montgomery County for a prosaic yet important reason: it will pave the way for building more housing.

Montgomery for All supports the passage of Zoning Text Amendment (ZTA) 23-10 that eliminates parking requirements for new housing developments located within a half-mile of WMATA Metro stations, a half-mile from Purple Line stations, and a quarter-mile from existing Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations or BRT stations that are funded for construction in the Capital Improvements Program (CIP) budget. We support the elimination of parking minimums because it prioritizes housing for people over cars; sustainable, transit-oriented development over underutilized parking; and can significantly lower the cost of constructing housing.

Watch the recording and view other event materials from our August 28, 2023 webinar on how parking reform can help us achieve our climate, housing, and equity goals.

James Hedrick brings a valuable perspective on affordable housing policy to the Montgomery County Planning Board and is eminently qualified to serve. We strongly urge the County Council to override the County Executive’s veto.

Montgomery for All endorses James Hedrick for the Democratic vacancy and Mitra Pedoeem for the unaffiliated vacancy on the Montgomery County Planning Board.