Affordable housing was the theme of the Maryland House Economic Matters Committee on Thursday as the 2026 legislative approaches its final days.
State lawmakers heard four Senate bills that aim to reduce red tape for housing developments, increase accessibility to rental properties and invest more state dollars in the incentivization of low-cost housing.
According to an October 2025 report from the state comptroller, Maryland has a current shortage of about 100,000 housing units and needs to build 590,000 new housing units to meet demand and growth projections by 2045.
All of the bills await a vote out of committee, and if passed, they will need two votes of approval in the House bill in order to reach the governor’s desk for signature.
SB0267 - Building Affordably in My Back Yard Act
Sen. Benjamin Brooks’s (D-Baltimore County) “BAMBY” bill has two major focuses: streamlining the housing approval process and establishing a statewide property owner registry to improve oversight of existing rental housing.
The legislation would authorize an express approval process for residential development projects in jurisdictions that have formally identified a shortage of affordable housing.
“This is not a mandate, but a tool. It allows local governments to move projects more efficiently through their pipeline where a housing need has been clearly identified by reducing unnecessary delays,” Brooks told the committee.
The statewide registry that would be established under the bill would make it easier for state and local agencies to communicate with property owners in order to respond to complaints and address housing safety concerns.
Brooks pitched BAMBY as a partner bill to the Maryland Housing Certainty Act.
SB0325 - Maryland Housing Certainty Act
Sponsored by State Sen. Malcolm Augustine (D-Prince George’s County) and backed by the Moore administration, the bill would defer development and impact fees for builders until after construction is complete to reduce regulatory constraints.
Moore says this change is a way to “keep capital flowing” and get “more shovels in the ground” so homes can get built quicker.
The legislation would also provide more certainty for developers after they receive zoning approval for a property, changing how Maryland grants vested rights.
“[The bill says that] once you have a certain zoning that you have, and you’ve got your application in, that that is a zoning that you will continue to have for a five-year period moving forward,” Augustine said during the bill’s Senate hearing back in February. “That the local [authority] will not be able to change that zoning in that time frame.”
The House added some small changes to its version of the bill, and Sen. Augustine said he is in support of those amendments.
SB0389 - Maryland Transit and Housing Opportunity Act
Gov. Wes Moore’s landmark affordable housing legislation takes aim at current zoning and financing barriers in an effort to create more housing and jobs near transit stations.
The legislation would eliminate minimum parking requirements for certain transit-oriented developments, promote mixed-use development around key transit stations and give the state more authority over the development of state-owned land adjacent to transportation hubs.
The legislation would largely spur housing in Prince George’s County, Montgomery County, Baltimore City and Baltimore County — home to several frequent rail corridors.
Saif Ratul, Deputy Legislative Officer for Moore, told committee members that the House version of the bill does stray from the Senate version, but he said the governor’s office is actively working with both chambers to resolve the differences.
“The core intent of offering a comprehensive strategy around addressing zoning constraints and financial challenges around broader [transit-oriented development] remains intact in both versions of this legislation,” Ratul said.
SB0937 - Maryland Fair Chance Housing Act
While not directly related to affordable housing development, Sen. Shaneka Henson’s bill (D-Anne Arrundel) would open up more housing opportunities to justice-involved individuals.
Under Maryland law, a landlord may refuse to rent to someone with an arrest or conviction if the crime suggests that the person poses a legitimate risk to the safety or property of others.
However, the landlord must consider the nature of the crime for which the person was convicted and how long ago it occurred.
Henson’s bill would clarify that landlord’s have refusal authority for any convictions related to child sex abuse images, sexual abuse, human trafficking, murder within the last 10 years and producing methamphetamine on the premises of federally assisted housing.
If the applicant makes it through that initial screening process, the landlord would then check them for regular qualifying factors like running a credit check and income check, calling references and looking at job history.
After that second screening, then a landlord could run an additional criminal background check for other felonies within the past five years.
A landlord could deny housing because of a felony, but only if they determine the withdrawal is “necessary to fulfill a substantial, legitimate and nondiscriminatory interest.”
“That's why it's called Fair Chance in Housing, because what it does is it simply gets a person their foot in the door,” Henson told the committee. “It gives the landlord the opportunity to evaluate them on their credit worthiness, on their income, on their stability, on their job, on their references – on all those things that a tenant should be evaluated on before they do the deeper dive on the criminal history.”
Owner-occupied properties would be excluded from the bill — meaning if a landlord resides at the property they’re renting out — and the new language would only apply to landlords only with five or more properties.
