Hear how project financing can help unlock the production of more affordable units.  Affordable housing remains one of the most pressing challenges facing Maryland counties, but transforming community need into completed units often depends on whether projects can secure workable financing. Rising construction costs, interest rates, and funding gaps can make it difficult to move rental developments, starter homes, and homeownership opportunities from concept to completion. By focusing on financing tools, public programs, and locally…

Seattle’s reforms offer lessons for streamlining housing reviews while preserving key safeguards. Seattle eliminated an administrative appeals process that had delayed major zoning reforms and housing development. Environmental reviews remain in place, but challenges must now proceed through the courts or the state’s growth management process. Supporters argue that the former system added months to project timelines while rarely producing meaningful changes, increasing costs and uncertainty as the city works to expand housing supply. Maryland…

As housing affordability continues to be a national issue, states are export how certain building may be relaxed in the name of affordability.  States and local governments are increasingly looking at building and fire code changes as one way to lower construction costs and make smaller multifamily projects more feasible. Some of the most debated proposals involve allowing certain apartment buildings to be built with a single stairway, easing elevator requirements, pausing code update cycles,…