On February 16, 2024, Associate Policy Director Dominic Butchko testified before the House Environment and Transportation Committee in opposition to HB 577- Department of Housing and Community Development- Homeless Shelter Licensing Program- Establishment. This bill grants the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) the ability to regulate homeless shelters.
Counties recognize and broadly support the intent of HB 577 to establish a minimum standard for homeless shelter operations. When members of the community may be at their lowest, they should still have options that grant them dignity and decency. However, counties do raise significant objections to how this bill was brought to fruition, as well as several serious technical flaws in its potential implementation.
MACo supports the intention of equitable access to homeless shelters for those who are living unsheltered in Maryland. However, without local buy-in by the State to develop a shared plan, the result will just create more red tape without the incentive of any new resources (the bill provides no new funding for sheltering).
HB 577’s cross-file, SB 1107, was heard on March 12, 2024 in the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee. Dominic Butchko submitted written testimony in opposition to this bill.
More on MACo’s Advocacy:
