Newsletter originally published by the Garrett Workforce Housing Alliance.
Friends,
On March 3, the Garrett County Board of Commissioners’ Communication Office announced some proposed initiatives to increase workforce housing. We encourage you to read the announcement and send your comments to the email address listed at the end of their statement. We are proud of the role GWHA and our allies have played in focusing sharper attention on the need for housing for the county’s “missing middle.” To truly meet the needs for housing in the $150k to $200k range outlined in the announcement, the county will need to dedicate a sufficient budget to developing infrastructure for new housing. At the town hall, we called back in November, business owners and residents asked the commissioners to dedicate the county’s revenue from transfer taxes on real estate to stimulate the building of workforce housing. We encourage full discussion of this proposal and other means to create more housing inventory for the county’s working families.
Ryan Kitzmiller
President
“The house of your dreams is the house where you stopped dreaming of your dream house because you already own it!”
― Mehmet Murat ildan
GWHA Consults with Experts
From our first day, GWHA has consistently reached out to experts in the affordable housing community for information and advice. Recently, we met online with Yarrow Brown, executive director of Housing North, a nonprofit organization advocating for workforce housing in 10 counties, comprising 300,000 residents in Northwest Michigan. Many of the counties share similar farm and tourism-based features of Mountain Maryland. “Yarrow Brown was extremely helpful in relating the impressive work of Housing North and offered to follow up the discussion soon,” says GWHA Secretary Chrissy Marucci. On Feb. 17, GWHA met on Zoom with Gregory Hare, Maryland’s assistant secretary and director of the Community Development Administration. Mr. Hare oversees affordable housing in Garrett County and several other counties that lack public housing authorities. “Gregory Hare generously gave us ample time on a Friday night to outline the tax credits available to stimulate the building of more workforce housing,” says GWHA board member Mike Dennis. “He was very straightforward in discussing what the alliance needs to do to win state grants and credits,” adds Dennis.
Fed Tells Chamber of Commerce: Step Up on Workforce Housing
On Feb. 16, the Garrett County Chamber of Commerce held its annual meeting to consider the year’s economic forecast. The forecast was delivered by Dr. Andrew Bauer, vice president and regional executive of the Baltimore branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. “Dr. Bauer was unequivocal in telling county commissioners they need to partner with the state and federal government to tackle the challenge of workforce housing,” says GWHA Treasurer Monique Mehring, who attended the bi-monthly meeting of the Garrett County Board of Commissioners meeting the same evening. Mehring and county resident Michael Bell were both cited in an article in The Republican, “Economic Development, Workforce Housing Discussed at Commissioners’ Meeting.” Referencing the need to have more workforce housing so employers can fill their needs, Bell asked, “What would be in the 2024 budget that would move that forward?” Board of Commissioners Chairman Paul Edwards said, “[Workforce housing] Investment is going to have to come primarily … from the feds … But there is going to have to be investments from the state and local governments as well.” Replying to Bell and Mehring, He said: “I think we are all on the same page. This is something that has to be addressed.” Check out the meeting on the live stream.
Workforce Housing in the News
EXCELLENT VIDEO! GWHA Vice President Kassy Cosner recommends: Why Wall St. Is Buying So Many U.S. homes. “While I do not know how many Garrett County homes are owned in a similar fashion,” says Cosner, “I was recently made aware that during the height of the Covid pandemic, online auctions replaced in-person auctions for homes underwater. My personal suggestion would be to pressure the powers that be to take those auctions back to in person.”
