Saying he favors "whatever it takes" to provide more affordable housing in Howard County, County Executive James N. Robey has strongly endorsed county housing agency goals to supply those homes for low- to moderate-income residents.

Housing officials are to meet with the County Council this week to discuss their three primary goals -- neighborhood preservation, more housing for seniors and affordable housing -- which they hope to see included in the next 10-year county general plan now being prepared.

Going into Thursday's session, those officials have a strong vote of confidence from Robey, especially on affordable housing, traditionally the most politically sensitive of the three.

"I am committed to making sure that we, as much as possible, develop affordable housing," Robey said after he and county administrative officer Raquel Sanudo met with the county's Housing and Community Development Board and the housing commission last week.

He plans to talk to council members too, he said, to develop strategies for encouraging the housing, even if it means passing a new law, or offering slightly higher densities in "carefully defined areas" to developers to encourage it. He wants to speak with Councilman Guy J. Guzzone, a Laurel-Savage Democrat, he said, because of a 1,145-home, mixed-use Rouse Co. development planned for his district.

"If legislation is what it takes to make it happen, I'll work toward that end," Robey said. "We're not just talking about low-income people. We're talking about the people who protect your life, who teach your children," he said, using civil servants and bank tellers as examples.

"We need them living here. They have a right to live here, and they make it a better rounded community," he said.

Councilman Allan H. Kittleman, a western Howard Republican, disagrees on the goal.

"I'm just not convinced that we don't have enough affordable housing," he said, adding that it's not the government's responsibility to legislate housing prices.

Guzzone and fellow council member Mary C. Lorsung, a West Columbia Democrat whose district is slated for a proposed 1,168-home, mixed-use development, said that while they support Robey, the solution to affordable housing is complicated.

"I agree with Jim and the housing commission on the end game," Lorsung said. But, she said, no one measure will solve the problem. Guzzone said a law requiring a percentage of new homes be affordable would have little effect in Howard, where land for large developments is running short.

At the same time, both said older neighborhoods are suffering from too many houses at affordable prices that aren't selling.

Greenleaf, an older townhouse community in Owen Brown, Guzzone said, has 70 rental homes that owners weren't able to sell when they moved. Now the community is having trouble with several tenants of those homes. Is that an opportunity to help an older area and provide more affordable housing? Guzzone asked.

"Having houses [available] at all levels is a good thing, but how much? Where?" Guzzone said.

"It's like putting together a jigsaw puzzle," Lorsung said about devising various solutions that together may have the desired effect.

Despite the strong support for affordable housing, most of last Thursday's meeting with Robey was devoted to the need for more housing for seniors and neighborhood preservation -- especially in sections of Columbia where homes are 30 years old, participants said.

"This was really the first opportunity we had to introduce our members to Mr. Robey and say how we viewed our role," said Michael W. Skojec, head of the Howard County Housing Commission.

"He recognized that revitalization, senior citizen housing and homeownership are prominent areas that need to be addressed," said Peter D. Morgan, chairman of the county Housing and Community Development Board. Morgan said his board offered to act as a subcommittee on General Plan preparation.

Members of the two county housing agency boards were pleased, they said, that Robey has $500,000 in the capital budget for a joint, $13 million apartment complex the county is hoping to build with Catholic Charities in the Ellicott City area.

The project would provide up to 180 units at an undetermined site, said Leonard S. Vaughan, executive director of the housing commission and director of the Housing and Community Development Board.

Pub Date: 3/16/99