In December 2013, the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) released Housing Maryland: A Housing and Policy Framework for Today and Tomorrow. Housing Maryland is the state’s first comprehensive housing plan. The framework is intended to be “a practical and flexible tool” for collaborative efforts to “better address the economic, environmental, and societal” factors that impact housing today and in the future. It was developed in a joint effort between DHCD and the Sustainable Growth Commission’s Housing Work Group, which was comprised of housing experts and stakeholders. It encompasses the state’s housing mission and sustainable growth goals to create a framework to support and guide statewide housing and community development activities. The framework is guided by three goals:
- Expanding the choice and supply of sustainable housing
- Restoring and revitalizing communities across Maryland
- Stabilizing families and communities
In a series of four articles Conduit Street takes a look at the Housing Maryland framework as well as state and local government efforts to address sustainable housing, revitalization and community stabilization. In this first article, we’ll set the foundation by taking a look at trends in Maryland’s housing landscape.
Maryland Trends
Research compiled by DHCD’s Office of Policy, Planning and Research helped shaped the Housing Maryland framework. The research report and charts may found in Appendix A of Housing Maryland. Below are some highlights from the report:
Maryland Population and Demographic Trends
Maryland’s population increased 9.1 percent in the past decade and is projected to increase another 6.7 percent by 2020. With the exception of Baltimore City, all jurisdictions are expected to experience population growth. Baltimore City is projected to have a 3.4 percent decline by 2020. Additionally, the number of Maryland households is also projected to increase by 182,662 households to a total of 2,343,702 households by 2020. However, the size of the households is expected to continue to decrease to 2.51 persons per household by 2030.
Maryland Housing Stock and Market Trends
Maryland’s household growth, which was projected to increase by 182,662 households by 2020, is projected to exceed the available housing stock which is only projected to grow by 180,851 units by 2020.
Maryland Rental and Homeownership Rates
For over a decade Maryland has maintained higher homeownership rates than the national average. However, Maryland’s homeownership rate mirrors the national decline which is attributed to a net loss of home owners and a substantial gain in renters as well as a rise in foreclosures.
What does this all mean?
The data and charts compiled by DHCD’s Office of Policy, Planning and Research provides insight on how answer to the question of how Maryland’s housing development will need to look to meet the needs of a growing, diverse and changing population.
