Project will create 120 rental units for county workers and older adults
Annapolis, MD- County Executive Steuart Pittman announced that the county will finance a new development project that will create 120 rental units for county workers, families, and older adults earning 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI) or less.
“This project is our new Housing Trust Fund at work,” said County Executive Pittman. “We all know that the affordable housing shortage is our primary portal to poverty, and it is our moral obligation to confront it. When developers step up and work like this with state and county partners, we all benefit.”
The Eagle Park project will leverage $1.5 million in federal HOME funds to create garden-style apartment units in Hanover, Maryland. Households earning up to 60% Area Median Income (AMI) or approximately $65,760 for a family of three can qualify for the program. There will also be a substantial number of units targeted to households earning lower incomes, including 50% AMI and 30% AMI. The project is expected to be completed in early 2025 and is being developed by Foundation Development Group and Osprey Property Company. Loan funds were made available through Arundel Community Development Services Inc. (ACDS), the county's nonprofit and community development arm.
“A central part of our mission is to create and support affordable housing opportunities for our low and moderate income families, workers, and households,” said Erin Karpewicz, CEO of Arundel Community Development Services, Inc. “I am thrilled that the Administration has paved the way for new developments like Eagle Park and rehabilitating and preserving existing units. The combination of policy changes, such as the Workforce Housing zoning allowance, and substantial investments through the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, means that we have more units in the pipeline to be developed or preserved than ever before.”
ACDS and the county recently provided financing to allow the Housing Commission of Anne Arundel County to complete the redevelopment and new construction of 201 units in Meade Village and Wilbourne Place. With 1,553 new construction and preservation units in the pipeline to close on financing before the end of the fiscal year, ACDS now manages the largest production and preservation pipeline the county has seen in recent history. The number of projects in the current pipeline represents approximately three times as many units that were developed during the 5 year period ending in 2020.
Housing affordability is a growing concern in the county and the United States, especially for the county workforce. Of the residents surveyed in the Anne Arundel Community College Spring Survey, 57% cited rising housing costs as a key problem facing the county. According to the Anne Arundel County Affordable Rental Housing Needs Assessment, conducted by The Real Property Research Group on behalf of ACDS, of the 54,702 households who rent their homes in the county, 45% are cost burdened and pay more than 30% of their income for housing.
The needs assessment also showed that rental costs have risen dramatically over the last three years, increasing by an average of 5.7% each year between 2019 and 2022. A typical apartment that rented for $1,566 per month in 2019 rented for $1,893 by the end of 2022. Similarly, home sale price increases exceeded the increase in household incomes over the last five years. Median home prices rose 35% from $324,604 in 2017 to $438,140 in 2022 while the median household incomes increased by only 17.38% from $92,575 in 2017 to $108,672 in 2022.
ACDS is in the process of obligating $11.45 million to rental projects that will leverage an additional $145,778,931 in Federal, State and private resources to create more workforce housing opportunities in the county.
