2026 Candidate Questionnaire
County Council District 4
Rocky Whitesell (D)
Website: rockywhitesell.com
Find all candidate questionnaires here.
Housing Leadership
In your view, why are many Montgomery County residents struggling to afford housing?
The main issue is squarely a lack of supply, particularly of multifamily housing. Too little housing to meet existing demand, driven by decades of restrictions on multifamily housing, has led to this point.
What is one housing initiative you would plan to spearhead, if elected?
Immediate rezoning is the limiting reagent here, and it has to come first. Without increasing the areas in which denser housing is allowed, there will not be significant improvements from other levers.
Zoning, Supply, and Housing Prices
In your view, how does current zoning policy in Montgomery County affect the supply and price of housing?
It is the main thing driving the price of housing up, without question.
What changes would you support to Montgomery County’s zoning policies to support greater housing affordability?
I think an upzoning strategy that concentrates higher density near major transit and gradually steps down outward is the best way forward. And substantially increasing the areas where duplexes, and especially townhouses, are allowed is the most important part of this. I have talked with a ton of people skeptical of housing density, and the hostility to townhomes in particular is a lot lower than I believe is commonly assumed. So long as there are strong guarantees of quality, and environmental protection, I think opposition to greatly expanded zoning is not inevitable.
On the permitting side, my key focus is on reordering to move veto points as early in the process as possible to reduce investment risk. I think the level of regulations and standards need not be reduced, but we have to give far better guarantees that once projects present clear outlines and meet approvals, that approval should remain valid till completion. I do not believe the key issue most investors have with our county is cost. It is overwhelmingly risk and uncertainty, and that is a solvable issue.
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
This is critical for the lowest income residents and I want to see the county increase its usage. It cannot be the only component, but it has to be a substantial one.
b. Market-rate (unsubsidized) housing
This should be used in combination with subsidized housing in most projects, in order to increase financial feasibility. If supply meets demand, then market-rate can mean affordable, but that will not happen so long as overall supply is critically strained. I think the best way to pair these is along the lines pioneered by the Housing Opportunities Commision.
What is one policy change in each area that you would pursue, if elected?
a. Affordable (subsidized) housing
The main thing is going to be pushing to allow this in more areas of the county, and giving greater financial backing to its construction than currently exists.
b. Market-rate (unsubsidized) housing
Along with generally expanding the areas in which dense housing is allowed, I want to see provisions that require redevelopment to maintain the same level or higher of affordable or subsidized housing that currently exists, whether that be publicly owned or naturally occurring.
Transportation & Smart Growth
What would you do to prioritize transit frequency and access if elected?
My intention is to push for a substantial increase of the fleet targeted specifically to backbone high demand lines, along with a major expansion of transit signal priority, and a focus on contiguity and bottleneck elimination on bus and bike lanes. The goal being that transit becomes the superior mode of transit to car commuting for these major sections first, then once we have that high standard of frequency and reliability we can expand to more coverage. At the same time, for the rest of the county I will push to ensure shelters and benches at every bus stop, because there are way too many places where people stand out in the cold even along major corridors.
What would you do to ensure safe walking and biking access to transit, stores, schools and services for residents of existing and new housing?
For new housing it has to be concentrated where transit exists, and aligned with transit expansion plans. I do not think the current corridor type investments accomplish this, they are far too much stuck in the past of wedge and corridor planning.
For biking in particular, my focus will be on completing contiguous major biking highways in line with the existing biking master plan, and pushing for genuinely separated lanes, bridges, and tunnels. Too much effort has been expended on partial protections, and not enough political capital has been staked ensuring the major fully protected routes are connected. The small gaps crossing major roads or requiring unsafe sharing discourage people the most.
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?
Why Montgomery for All and the Coalition for Smarter Growth of course!
But seriously, the three main areas will be the wide body of housing policy research, of which there is no lack, the council's staff and planning departments who understand the technical details far better than I can ever hope to, and the housing advocates and community members who understand local conditions and often present the most tailored approaches. All three have immense value, and I will try to leverage all three towards my goal of greatly expanded affordable housing production in our county.