Record $103.7M Invested To Expand Affordable Housing In MoCo

MoCo:Wednesday, County Executive Marc Elrich announced that Montgomery County’s Housing Initiative Fund (HIF) provided the highest level of financing in its 30-year history to preserve or create 22 multifamily properties generating a total of 3,254 apartment units, including 1,982 affordable housing units.

This year’s HIF funding was invested into 22 multifamily properties that were a combination of existing apartment buildings and new rental developments (12 existing and 10 new). The County’s Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) attributes this year’s record level of financing to the following:

• The agency’s focusing on preserving market rate affordable housing, especially properties that come through the Right of First Refusal
• Several new construction projects closed – interest rates are good now
• Preservation of existing affordable housing – several Low-Income Housing Tax Credit properties became available through the Right of First Refusal

“I am proud of the investment that HIF was able to make this year that has led to nearly 2,000 units of affordable housing,” said County Executive Marc Elrich. “Our focus on preserving existing housing while adding new units produced 3,254 apartments and 61 percent of them are affordable. I believe that the County should continue leveraging its assets to maximize our impact on affordable housing. We must be creative and find solutions that generate more affordable housing and find the best opportunities to work with developers to address this very challenging problem. Today is an example of how government can play a role in addressing the issue.”
The HIF receives revenue from a variety of sources including loan repayments and 2.5 percent of the County’s property tax revenue. The Department of Housing and Community Affairs (DHCA) amplifies the impact of HIF funds by combining them with other local, state, and federal resources to renovate distressed properties, preserve affordability of units, fund new construction and create housing for residents with special needs as well as mixed-income communities.
Overall, the County invested $103,712,761 to preserve or produce these housing units, 61% of which are affordable. Affordable units offer rents to people with incomes between 30 and 60 percent of Montgomery County’s Area Median Income (AMI) (e.g., for a family of four, 30 percent AMI amounts to $36,390 annually and 60 percent of AMI is $72,780 annually.)
DHCA collaborated with for-profit (Stratford Capital, The Orlo Fund, RST Development, and the Conifer Group) and nonprofit (Housing Opportunities Commission, Montgomery Housing Partnership, and Victory Housing) developers to produce this significant affordable housing expansion milestone. Below is a chart with details.