Anne Arundel County Executive and others announce new mortgage assistance expansion in response to the housing crisis.
Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, and Anne Arundel Community Development Services (ACDS) CEO Erin Karpewicz yesterday announced changes to the County’s Mortgage Assistance Program (MAP) would include increasing the Area Median Income (AMI) requirement to 100 percent, making almost half of the county workforce eligible for up to $50,000 in mortgage assistance.
According to the press release:
“Our residents and businesses are feeling the impacts of the housing crisis, said County Executive Pittman. “Creating programs like this and funding them through our housing trust fund is how we are providing solutions for our essential workers – our teachers, our bus drivers, our health care workers – and the businesses that employ them.”
County Council Chairman and emcee for the event Pete Smith said “We were proud to host this event in District 1 where there is a need for programs that will provide more home ownership opportunities to our residents.”
This announcement comes on the heels of historic and multi-year investments in housing from Maryland’s Counties. This year alone, both Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County announced the expansion of local regulations enabling Accessory Dwelling Units or ADUs; Baltimore County also released a wider ranging list of new housing reform; Prince George’s announced a partnership with Amazon to develop further affordable housing stock; Baltimore City announced that since Mary of 2022, they housed 1443 households and added over 2500 affordable housing units in the development pipeline; and Garrett County has been openly exploring several options to expand housing in their region.
Nuts and Bolts:
Under the previous program requirements, eligible individuals earning up to 80% of the Baltimore AMI or $62,600, and eligible three-person households earning $71,550 or less could qualify for up to $40,000 in assistance. With the changes, individuals making $78,250 or less, or three-person households earning $100,625 or less can now utilize an additional $10,000 for mortgage down payment or closing costs.
AMI requirements for the program were calculated based on 2022 HOME Income Limits for the Baltimore area as published by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, and were adjusted for household size. Less than half of all households in Anne Arundel County have incomes below 100 percent AMI for the Baltimore region.
