The
Kent County Housing Summit was held on March 10 at
Go
to Center for Member Services to read Ruth Crystal’s
reporting of Affordable Housing measures before the Legislature in Report from State Circle (password
provided with subscription to members@kent.lwvmd.org).
For
potential homebuyers of low and moderate income go here for sources of help.
League
of
Last
updated:
By: Dinah L. DeMoss, Affordable Housing LWVKC
Board Committee Chair
The LWVKC is
reviewing its stand on the issue of Affordable Housing. Affordable Housing is a large issue. To many it applies only to the chronically
homeless. To others it also applies to
those who are potentially homeless, to those who need assistance to house
themselves. With the rising cost of
housing, attention is turning to those who work but do not have enough income
to purchase housing near their work.
This is commonly referred to as ‘Workforce Housing’.
It is the
author’s contention that all aspects of affordable housing must be considered
in addressing any one of these issues.
It is not possible to partition the population into these
categories—chronically homeless, potentially homeless, homeownership
challenged. This taxonomy is dynamic
with a person moving from one category to the other and back again. Everyday
new people enter and some people leave the ranks of those needing ‘Affordable
Housing’.
The Statewide
LWVMD Committee on Affordable Housing conducted an exhaustive study of the
issue under the direction of Ruth Crystal.
We generated two reports:
8 Page Fact Sheet—start here
Larger
Resource report—more information
Since the
smaller, rural counties, like those of the
An
ES synopsis presented to the September, 2006, LWVMD Workshop.
It is a synopsis
of the Fact Sheet that applies to the
To Review
the stands of League of Women Voters on Affordable Housing, please peruse the
following pages:
LWVUS http://www.lwv.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Meeting_Basic_Human_Needs&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=23&ContentID=1838
LWVMD http://lwvmd.org/LAC/?cat=23
LWVKC http://kent.lwvmd.org/position.html
LWVKC
Housing Positions Review and Update April 3 report.
There was a Governor’s
Task Force working on the issue at the same time that the LWVMD was doing its
investigation. Their report, Image of the Possible,
is a good supplemental read. There is repetition
of our report. See www.mdp.state.md.us
for more information.
The Maryland
Department of Housing and Community Development is in charge of the
MD Consolidated Plan. From the
consolidated plan:
The
Consolidated Plan is a planning tool required by the U.S. Department
of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that guides the use of federal, and to a
lesser
Goal 1. To provide decent housing
Goal 2. To provide a suitable living environment, and
Goal 3. To expand economic opportunities.
Please, visit
Maryland
Department of Housing and Community Development and explore the many
links that you will find there relating to traditional Affordable Housing,
Workforce Housing, and Economic Development.
In particular look at the More House 4 Less program: http://www.morehouse4less.com/
and Blueprint Maryland: http://www.blueprintmaryland.com/ .
Visit http://www.friendsofmd.org/
for more information about Smart Growth and land use in
They have published
a report that is helpful in evaluating development on the upper
Smart
Growth: How is Your County Doing? | Eastern Shore 
The Upper Eastern Shore is home to many of Maryland’s
most precious resources. The counties of Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Caroline and
Talbot alone hold more than 27% of Maryland’s active farmland, and more than
60% of the farmland on the Eastern Shore as a whole. In fact, the Upper Shore
alone contains more than 400,000 acres of Maryland’s best agricultural soils. In addition, the Upper Shore is famous for
its attractive historic communities, and ... Download
(pdf)
Mortgage Help:
The Maryland Association of Realtors has a site on Affordable Housing
that gives many resources to assist homebuyers.
See http://www.mdrealtor.org/affordablehousing.asp.
Also, see this
document [PDF]
Historic Preservation
and Affordable Housing: The Missed Connection
|
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View
as HTML |
A Community Land Trust (CLT) was explored
by the Joint Workforce Housing Task Force of Kent County as a tool to provide
long term relief to a workforce housing crisis.
Read this article to get oriented to the concept:
The Homebuyer’s
Guide to Community Land Trusts
|
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View
as HTML |
More on CLT’s
(and Smart Growth) from The Institute of Community Economics (ICE)
INTEGRATING
SOCIAL EQUITY and SMART GROWTH by TASHA HARMON
|
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View
as HTML |
Nation's poor hit by housing crunch,
Tony Pugh | McClatchy Newspapers http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/v-print/story/17894.html
Well, that
should get anyone started in the examination of this critical issue of Housing
in Kent County, Maryland. It is a complicated
issue. It is a crucial issue. We must be concerned about the quality of
life of everyone, especially those in our County who are necessary to provide
the goods, services, and social structure that we depend on!
Contact Dinah DeMoss LWVKC Housing
Study Chair