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Bill would extend property-tax exemption for nonprofit affiliates of housing authorities statewide
Summary
Supporters told lawmakers HB1085 would let all Maryland housing authorities preserve property-tax exemptions when they form nonprofit entities to leverage modern financing such as low-income housing tax credits; witnesses said it would help preservation and redevelopment of public housing stock.
Delegate Chris Mayer presented HB 10 85, which would allow all of Maryland’s public housing authorities to extend a property-tax exemption to nonprofit entities that the housing authorities create for development and financing purposes.
“House bill 10 85 simply gives the same ability to the rest of the state's housing authorities,” Mayer said, describing existing pilot provisions in Baltimore City, Montgomery County and Howard County and urging the committee to treat the bill as a standardization of an existing tool.
Affordable-housing developers and several housing authority directors testified in favor. Mike Font of New Harbor Development said the bill is “vital to modernizing and preserving Maryland's public housing” because certain financing mechanisms—particularly low-income housing tax credits—typically require ownership structures that can jeopardize an authority’s tax exemption. Angie Lawler of the Housing Authority of the City of Frederick said her authority needs the exemption to stretch redevelopment dollars for Lucas Village, a public-housing redevelopment affecting 88 households.
Tom Cole of the Maryland Affordable Housing Coalition, Melissa Maddox Evans of the Housing Authority of the City of Annapolis, and other PHA representatives said the change would expand a financing tool that has worked in three jurisdictions to the rest of the state.
Vice Chair Boyce asked whether sponsor amendments from Baltimore City were acceptable; witnesses supported the Baltimore proposal and warned that other proposed amendments could undermine the bill’s purpose. No formal committee action or vote was recorded during the hearing.
