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.