Howard County housing officials had 17 subsidized houses to sell but only nine qualified buyers this week in the first attempt this year to match working families with housing they can afford.

The county plans to award up to 60 new townhouses and condominium apartments to buyers this year as long-planned developments along the U.S. 1 corridor come to fruition. But despite interest from hundreds of families, there were not enough qualified purchasers. County law requires developers in most zones to provide up to 15 percent moderate-income units.

The experience seems to belie years of public angst in Howard County over high housing prices shutting out people with incomes of less than $100,000. A citizens task force study in 2006 forecast a need for 20,800 subsidized units to fight a sharp upturn in prices earlier this decade.

Last year's average sale price in Howard was $456,372, according to Metropolitan Regional Information Systems. Hundreds more rental apartments, including some with subsidized rents, are also planned.

County housing officials say they think the problem of not enough qualified buyers is temporary.

"We've really just begun the program. We're still tweaking it and still marketing it. It's going to take some time," said Tom Carbo, deputy county housing director .

Most of the successful applicants for eight three-level townhouses at Belmont Station and one two-bedroom apartment condominium at Elkridge Crossing - both along U.S. 1 in Elkridge - attended a brief ceremony Wednesday evening to get certificates from the county's Moderate Income Housing Unit program and to learn about the choice of lots.

They now must get mortgages and wait for the units to be completed.

Of the more than 200 people who attended an informational session last month to learn about the program, about 25 families within the income limits qualified to buy a townhouse at $209,000 or a condominium apartment at $182,796, Carbo said.

"They first have to be income-qualified for a mortgage," Carbo said, which limits eligibility to those with incomes of more than $55,000 a year. Many families had debt or credit problems that disqualified them, he said.

Qualifying incomes range from $52,786 for one person to $99,539 for a family of eight or more.

A townhouse at the program sale price would require monthly payments of about $1,700, including taxes.

Those awarded houses Wednesday were happy.

Dylan Combellick, 30, a chief petty officer in the Navy who is stationed at Fort Meade, said the mortgage payment on his new stone-front townhouse would roughly equal the rent he pays for a two-bedroom apartment in Columbia that is cramped quarters for him, his wife, Nonna, and their children, ages 2 and 4.

The community center, swimming pool, exercise and games rooms at Belmont Station are bonuses, he said.

"I'm glad we found it. We couldn't afford a place in this area without this program," Combellick said.

Brice Dawson, 34, a Howard County native and a teacher in county schools for the past decade, was also chosen, along with his wife Amber, 30, and their children, ages 4 and 10 months.

The Dawsons live in a much smaller townhouse in Woodlawn, Brice said, because they could not afford a place in Howard County.

"The big draw is Howard County," Brice said. His testimony last year helped persuade the County Council to allow people who have equity in a house to qualify for the program.

The Belmont Station development includes one-car garage townhouses with 1,691 square feet of finished space on three levels, including three bedrooms and 2.5 baths. Retail prices start at $339,000, said Chris Murn, the developer of the 110-house project, where 17 units are for middle-income families at lower prices.

At Elkridge Crossing, off Montgomery Road, two-bedroom, two-bath condominium apartments have 1,400 square feet. Moderate-income townhouses there are 1,640 square feet, with three bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.

Buyers may live in the houses even if their incomes rise, but if they move, they must offer the units back to the county Housing Commission at controlled prices to keep them in the program.

Robert M. Buchmeier, a leader of the Interfaith Coalition for Affordable Housing who served on the county's housing task force, said he is pleased that zoning changes several years ago along U.S. 1 led to projects that could result in 1,000 moderate-income houses during the next few years.

"But 1,000 units is just a small down payment against the 20,000 needed units to really balance the county and provide access to middle-income people," he said.

larry.carson@baltsun.com