On February 24, 2021, the Prince George’s County Initiative Council hosted its winter session focused on Prince George’s County’s “Housing Opportunity for All” Comprehensive Housing Strategy. This session was cross-promoted with the ULI Washington Housing Initiative Council and consisted of a panel made up of the Honorable Dannielle Glaros, District 3 Councilmember for the Prince George’s County Council; Aspasia Xypolia, Acting Director of the Prince George’s County Department of Housing and Community Development; Chris Kizze, Vice President of Enterprise Advisors; and Steven Reilly, Principal at HR&A Advisors.

Developed in partnership with Enterprise Community Partners, Housing Opportunity for All is the County’s 10-year plan to serve the housing needs of all county residents, both current and future, while expanding access to opportunity. Its goals are to build capacity and address specific housing needs through new or expanded tools while focusing on the central themes of building mixed-income communities, deconcentrating poverty, creating or preserving homes near key destinations and transit service and diversifying the housing supply. The strategy has identified 48 cross-cutting and targeted actions to complete over 10 years, and as of 2021, one action is completed and 23 are in progress.

Housing Opportunity for All aligns with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments’ Regional Housing Targets to develop housing in the region to keep up with increased demand and employment growth outpacing housing growth. A 2019 Urban Institute study estimated the County alone will need to add nearly 36,000 housing units to meet demand through 2030. A few of the key actions outlined in Housing Opportunity for All to meet these goals include:

• Expanded and dedicated source for Housing Investment Trust Fund
• Strengthen the County’s and partners’ ability to purchase affordable rental properties at risk of converting to market rate rental housing (i.e., right-of-first refusal provisions)
• Leveraging untapped federal resources like Section 108 Loan Guarantee Funds to support more mixed-income, mixed-use developments
• Increase resources for households experiencing a housing crisis, like foreclosure or eviction.
• Explore targeted inclusionary housing program

The session concluded with a summary of HR&A Advisors’ feasibility study on inclusionary zoning policies for the County. Analyzing market conditions within a ½ mile radius from the planning Purple Line stations in the County, the study found that while there is a supply gap at the 30% and 50% AMI levels, even when coupled with a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), inclusionary zoning development cannot be supported at the existing market rents through the Purple Line corridor at the time.

For those wanting to get involved in realizing the County’s housing goals, the County hosts a Housing Opportunities for All Work Group, an advisory body made up of leaders in government, business, the faith-based community, and other nonprofit sectors. The group meets regularly to provide expertise and recommendations for compressive housing and community development strategies to further the goals outline in Housing Opportunities for All. More information about this Work Group can be found on the County’s website.