Sometimes, the message conveyed in a protest is less important than who the protest is directed at. Marchers calling for more affordable housing in Howard County were aiming their signs at traffic on Little Patuxent Parkway on May 29. Some motorists replied with supportive honks. But this mutual admiration society is unlikely to get anything done.
Full Spectrum Housing, along with related housing advocacy groups that organized the rally, have made their demands known widely with regard to more affordable housing, including to the Howard County Council. That should be their focus because the County Council is the one agency with the clout to do something about it.
Columbia needs more affordable housing. A community cannot remain robust if those who work there cannot afford to live there. We are behind Full Spectrum's call for more options in moderately priced housing in downtown Columbia.
A study will be necessary to discover the right options — rent control, subsidies, set-asides for new development or something else. A housing task force recommendation is that 15 percent of all units built in downtown Columbia be priced for those who earn between 40 and 80 percent of the county median income. So far, none of the 817 housing units approved for downtown Columbia will be in the moderate price range, which is allowed under current county housing requirements. There's a clear gap between what exists and what is needed.
Meanwhile, Howard Hughes Corp., the developer bestriding most of the Columbia housing market, has a proposal the firm expects to offer this month. We don't know what that will be, but until it is ready to show that plan, the developer notes that it has complied with all of the county's requirements, including paying a $2,000 fee-in-lieu per unit that is not deemed affordable. And who can blame the firm for paying in-lieu fees if that door is left open to them? Howard Hughes is a profit-making company protecting its bottom line as best it can while complying with the law. It's the law that needs changing.
Jim Rouse's vision was of a Columbia where "a CEO and a janitor could live in the same neighborhood." That dream of a community built on economic justice is at risk without intervention of some kind. Affordable housing advocates such as Full Spectrum need to place their demands squarely in the laps of those five men and women who meet at the county's headquarters in Ellicott City. The advocates are not going to get the results they want, or that Columbia needs, from Howard Hughes or from motorists on Little Patuxent Parkway.