Applause rose from the council chambers on Monday night as Baltimore City Council unanimously passed its new inclusionary housing bill, one that has been debated, amended and picked over many times since its introduction 22 months ago.
Council President Nick Mosby, a co-sponsor and advocate for inclusionary housing, called the bill’s passing “historic.”
“This is a bill that has really kind of been a sore patch in our city, from a legislative perspective,” he said, noting that the city’s previous inclusionary housing bill was in effect for 17 years but created 30-some units in the entire city. That has largely been blamed on the widespread use of waivers that got developers out of participating.
The bill passed by the council requires developers building residential housing with more than 20 units to set aside up to 15% of units for people making below the Baltimore area-median income. Specifically, they must set aside 5% for households making under 50% of AMI and another 5% for households making under 60% of the AMI. Currently for a Baltimore household of four people that would be an estimated annual income of around $60,850 and $67,000 respectively. It applies to all projects that receive, or plan to apply for, development subsidies from the city.
While there are some exceptions, like for college dormitories or assisted living facilities, there are no waivers available this time around. The bill also applies to all areas of the city, including affluent areas that are rife with new construction like Federal Hill, Canton and the Inner Harbor.
“We know that mixed-use and mixed-income types of communities are our safest communities. They're our best communities, particularly as it relates to young folks and development, and they're among the most equitable ways of pushing our city forward,” said Mosby.
The council did not pass an accompanying tax credit bill on Monday, instead, due to a few minor and last-minute amendments, they decided to hold that vote for a meeting scheduled later in this week. That credit would essentially have Baltimore pay the developer the difference between the affordable and market-rate price for the unit.
“With these two bills, Baltimore has a chance to break with development policies that subsidize segregation and instead create a more equitable, integrated future,” said Holly Ward, a union leader and member of the Inclusionary Housing Coalition (IHC), during a rally held outside of City Hall before Monday night’s meeting. Ward makes the argument that many advocates of the policy repeat: it can invigorate diversity in neighborhoods and provide more opportunities for historically marginalized people who are often trapped in disinvested neighborhoods.
Councilmember Odette Ramos, the bill’s main writer and sponsor, said in an interview before the bill passed that it isn’t “perfect.”
The process was long, in part, “because we wanted to get everybody at the table” for this one, she said, including developers who work in the city. Ramos did call the tax credit a “hard pill to swallow” given that developers receive subsidies already to develop in the city but it was part of striking the right balance, she described.
“There definitely will be an administrative burden and some financial burden that goes with it,” said Doug Schmidt, a founder with Baltimore-based company Workshop Development. Schmidt says that among developers, the city is known as a notoriously difficult place to work and some view the demands of the bill as “just one more thing” to potentially cause a burden.
Although, overall he characterized the bill, so long as the accompanying tax credit is passed, as a “win-win.”
“We think it was a pretty smart way to try to deal with the costs [of housing] without damaging the incentives to build new product in Baltimore,” said Schmidt.
In order to appease concerns from the mayor’s office, the bill was amended last month to include a study that would go into effect after 200 units have been built and occupied. That study would be conducted by a nine-member commission who would review the program’s efficacy against the requirements of the law.
The inclusionary housing policy would go into effect 180 days after the mayor signs it into law.