On September 24^th, the FY21 Housing Initiative Council met for the first meeting of the year. The objective for this year’s council will mainly focus around topics that help address housing production in the region. The housing market dynamics is ever evolving and, with the global pandemic, the need to address the housing crisis in the region is more dire than ever.

The council will use the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government Housing Affordability targets as well as the ULI Washington produced Housing Supply and Affordability Report, as the framework and plan to engage both the public and private sector in candid conversations about how to improve housing production to attain these goals.

At the first meeting, the council members heard from regional public officials about their housing targets and how has the pandemic impacted those goals- Hilary Chapman, Housing Program Manager at Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments; Helen McIlvaine, Director at Office of Housing, City of Alexandria; Danilo Pelletiere, Sr Policy Adviser at DHCD; and Lisa Govoni, Housing Planner Coordinator, Montgomery County Planning.

Then the group formed sub-committees that will focus on specific topics such as land use and permits, construction costs, regulatory barriers, financing, etc. to begin to brainstorm on what the region needs to do in order to increase the rate of housing production to meet the regional needs.

It was a great and productive conversation. The council looks forward to the next sessions and continued work on this important issue.