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Council approves bill giving county right of first refusal on mobile home parks and motels with amendments
Summary
The Howard County Council approved Council Bill 10 20 25, amended to expand the Housing Commission's ability to solicit qualified assignees for mobile home parks and motels the county may acquire to preserve affordable housing. The bill passed after debate over motel residency duration and growth-control implications.
Howard County’s Council on March 2025 approved Council Bill 10 20 25, a measure that gives the county a right of first refusal to acquire certain mobile home parks and motels, amended to add a solicitation process and to clarify the role of qualified assignees and the Housing Commission.
The bill’s sponsor, Councilmember Liz Walsh, and other supporters stressed the measure is intended to preserve existing low-cost housing stock without requiring new construction. Liz Walsh cited a fiscal analysis indicating that in recent years roughly 451 such units were available for purchase and that preserving them might cost about $70,000 per unit on average.
Debate centered on motels: some councilmembers raised concerns that removing short-term occupancy caps could effectively convert motel units into long-term residences without going through Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) reviews, paying school surcharges, or meeting growth-control requirements. Councilmembers also discussed real-world practices — testimony and local experience showed families sometimes reside in motels for years — and whether the Housing Commission’s assignment power could be used in ways that bypass residential controls.
Amendment 1, which establishes a solicitation framework and allows qualified assignees to participate when the Housing Commission cannot itself complete acquisitions, passed on a council vote. The full bill as amended then passed.
Supporters argued the bill would be a rapid, lower-cost tool to preserve entry-level housing options; opponents warned about unintended consequences and urged monitoring and safeguards if properties are acquired and repurposed.
Councilmembers encouraged tracking of outcomes and safeguards around growth-control and APFO issues for properties converted to longer-term housing.
