Ensuring All Marylanders Have Access to Safe, Affordable Housing

Every Marylander should have access to safe and affordable housing—regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender, or source of income. However, the current housing market that we have today is far from this ideal. Too many Marylanders are struggling to pay for their housing costs and the pandemic has put hundreds of thousands of people across the state at risk of losing their housing.

Maryland has taken some important steps in recent years to improve the housing market so that it works for everyone:

• In 2020, the state legislature passed the HOME Act barring discrimination against renters based on their source of income. The bill added source of income protections to the current list of prohibited forms of housing discrimination and bans landlords from refusing to accept Housing Choice Vouchers. This move allowed Maryland to join the growing list of states plus the District of Columbia with effectively banning this type of discrimination against renters. [i] [ii]
• In 2021 Maryland became the first state in the nation to provide access to counsel to renters in eviction proceedings. The legislation also ensures that renters get a pre-filing notice 10 days before a landlord files for eviction. This bill once implemented will provide legal representation in court to the most vulnerable Marylanders, who often attend rent court without legal representation. Unfortunately, the bill will not take effect until October of this year and was passed with no permanent funding source.

Despite this recent progress in the legislature, too many Marylanders are still struggling to access safe and affordable rental housing:

• Across Maryland, there is a shortage of rental homes affordable for Marylanders with incomes at or below $32, 000. [iii]
• Currently, 74% of extremely low income Marylanders are severely cost burdened,[iv] meaning these households are spending more than half of their income on housing. Those facing unaffordable rents are more likely than other renters to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay the rent, and are highly likely to experience unstable housing situations and evictions as a result. Research suggest that Black and Brown women headed households tend to be the most at risk for eviction. [v]
• It’s estimated that Maryland lacks approximately 85,000 rental units for its lowest income households or those earning 30% of their area median income. [vi] Statewide, there are 33 units available for every 100 extremely low-income households.
• The lack of rental units priced for very-low-income households is one of the factors leading to people paying more than they can afford in rent. This is in part due to the limited construction of multifamily units, as compared to new single family homes, within recent years.
• About 1 in 3 homes in Maryland are occupied by renters. Unfortunately, the Maryland legislature left hundreds of thousands of renters without protection during a pandemic as the vast majority of renter protection bills aimed at responding to the challenges created by the pandemic did not pass this session. [vii] This leaves many already vulnerable Marylanders at risk for eviction, which will further destabilize the housing market and Maryland’s economy.

Maryland’s homeownership market has largely recovered from The Great Recession, however more Marylanders are cost burdened now than before the recession and homeownership remains out of the reach for many. Additionally, the effects of the pandemic on the market remains uncertain.

• Potential home buyers were already facing difficulty when applying for a home loan prior to the pandemic. Since the pandemic has started, many lenders have tightened loan qualification requirements such as increasing the minimum credit score and the amount of down payment required to qualify.
• State data has shown that women in Maryland face additional barriers to homeownership compared to men. Home loan applications in Maryland with a female primary applicant had an 18% denial rate compared to 15% denial rate for male primary applicants. [viii] On home loan applications where the sex of the primary applicant was omitted there was a 14% denial rate statewide.
• About 25% of Maryland homeowners are cost burdened and that’s a 3% increase from the year 2000. [ix] Of this statistic, Black and Brown households are over represented among severely cost burdened homeowners. Those facing unaffordable mortgages are more likely than other homeowners to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay their mortgage, and are highly likely to experience unstable housing situations and foreclosure as a result.
• The Black homeownership rate is 31% compared to 59% of White households statewide. [x]
• Because of the ongoing legacy of legal housing discrimination and disinvestment, Black and Brown homeowners face additional challenges once they are able to obtain a home, such as vacant and abandoned properties in their communities. As a result, Black and Brown homeowners often have less equity in their home than their white counterparts and tend to be at a greater risk for default and foreclosure. As an additional barrier, Black and Brown homeowner’s homes are often appraised less than their value when they try to sell or refinance their homes despite this being illegal under fair housing laws. [xi]
• The rise in student loan debt has also become a hindrance to homeownership. As student debt rises, homeownership rates decline nationally. [xii] This also affects Black and Brown communities at higher rates as research shows that they tend to take on more student loan debt then their White counterparts. [xiii]
• High construction cost of building materials, lack of infrastructure and restrictive zoning regulations are driving up the cost of homes for sale due to low inventory. This issue is increasingly alarming in parts of Maryland that already had higher cost homes. [xiv]

The needs amongst the homeless population are broad and often complex, spanning from people experiencing a minor disruption in their ability to pay for housing, people leaving institutions and foster care, people without legal status, seniors and persons living with a disability.

• In 2019, roughly 6,000 people experienced homelessness in Maryland. [xv]
• Organizations serving this population have been able to temporarily house homeless individuals in hotels during the pandemic. As vaccine uptake numbers increase and the federal funding to states decrease, advocates are warning about homeless individuals being placed back onto the street.

There are steps that Maryland policymakers can take to strengthen the housing market:

• Maryland needs more deeply affordable homes for cost burdened households
  • Creating a housing trust fund
  • Establishing a dedicated funding source for affordable housing
  • Expanding the use of Housing Choice Vouchers
  • Establishing inclusionary zoning policies
• Permanent supportive housing and stronger connections to behavioral and mental health services for persons experiencing homelessness.
• Increase tenant protections and access to information, legal services, mediation, or other supports.
• Expand emergency renter’s assistance programs.
• Increase the availability of homebuyer and foreclosure prevention education.

What challenges do you see facing Maryland’s housing market? What policy choices could help make that vision a reality?

[i] “Pamela Wood, Maryland delegates OK housing anti-discrimination bill based on tenants source of income”, Baltimore Sun, May 10, 2020 https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-ga-housing-discrimination-20200310-tvm7jk4icrbxddvsbfudyqf3tu-story.html

[ii] Pamela Wood, Maryland delegates OK housing anti-discrimination bill based on tenants source of income”, Baltimore Sun, May 10, 2020 https://www.baltimoresun.com/politics/bs-md-pol-ga-housing-discrimination-20200310-tvm7jk4icrbxddvsbfudyqf3tu-story.html

[iii] “National Low Income Housing Coalition Housing Needs By State” 2021 https://nlihc.org/housing-needs-by-state/maryland

[iv] National Low Income Housing Coalition Housing Needs By State” 2021 https://nlihc.org/housing-needs-by-state/maryland

[v] Eviction Lab, “Why Eviction Matters” 2021 https://evictionlab.org/why-eviction-matters/#who-is-at-risk

[vi] Maryland Housing Needs Assessment & 10 Year Strategic Plan, 2021 Maryland Housing Needs Assessment.pdf (mdahc.org)

[vii] Taneeka Richardson, “Thousands of Marylanders Still at Risk for Eviction Because Legislators Failed to Pass Bills, May 10, 2021 https://www.mdeconomy.org/thousands-of-marylanders-still-at-risk-for-eviction-because-legislators-failed-to-pass-vital-bills/

[viii] Maryland Housing Needs Assessment & 10 Year Strategic Plan, 2021 Maryland Housing Needs Assessment.pdf (mdahc.org)

[ix] Maryland Housing Needs Assessment & 10 Year Strategic Plan, 2021 Maryland Housing Needs Assessment.pdf (mdahc.org)

[x] Unites States Census, “Maryland Quick Facts” 2021 https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/MD/HSG445219

[xi] The New York Times, Black Homeowners Face Discrimination in Appraisals, April 19, 2018 Https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/realestate/blacks-minorities-appraisals-discrimination.html

[xii] Annie Nova, Why Buying a Home Can be Almost Impossible with Massive Student Loan Debt, April 19, 2018. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/19/student-loan-debt-can-make-buying-a-home-almost-impossible.html

[xiii]  Mel Hanson, Education Data, Student Loan Debt by Race, September, 24, 2020 https://educationdata.org/student-loan-debt-by-race

[xiv] Maryland Housing Needs Assessment & 10 Year Strategic Plan, 2021 Maryland Housing Needs Assessment.pdf (mdahc.org)

[xv] Maryland Housing Needs Assessment & 10 Year Strategic Plan, 2021 Maryland Housing Needs Assessment.pdf (mdahc.org)