On February 20, 2024, Associate Policy Director Dominic Butchko submitted written testimony in support of HB 599- Maryland Community Investment Corporation- Establishment (Housing and Community Development Financing Act of 2024). This bill establishes a Maryland Community Investment Corporation to make investments in low-income communities and expands the uses of the Strategic Demolition and Smart Growth Impact Fund.
For the 2024 Maryland General Assembly Session, MACo has made it a priority – one of the Association’s four legislative initiatives – to Advance Comprehensive Housing Solutions. Much like climate change and sea level rise, the challenges surrounding affordable housing are vast and call for a large, multipronged effort. While in other policy areas, it may be easy to deduce a simple cause-andeffect relationship, housing is a complex web of multifaceted factors. Addressing challenges like workforce, financing, interest rates, broad economic trends, supply chain, and large out-of-state corporate interests – among many other obstacles – requires an all-hands-on-deck effort from policy makers at all levels.
If enacted, HB 599 would provide another “tool in the toolbox” by establishing the Maryland Community Investment Corporation. The Corporation would be tasked with using federal incentives, such as New Market Tax Credit, to offer more attractive financing for affordable housing development. Additionally, the bill broadens the flexibility of the Strategic Demolition and Smart Growth Impact Fund to include debt payments and credit enhancement.
HB 599’s cross-file, SB 483, was heard on February 22, 2024 in the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee. Dominic Butchko submitted written testimony in support of this bill.
More on MACo’s Advocacy:
