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County housing director outlines preservation tools and new homeownership programs
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Summary
Director Butler described how Prince George's County plans to preserve affordability using ROFR, long‑term covenants, a 2024 land bank authority, TOPA and two new county programs: critical workforce assistance (0% loans up to ~$50,000) and a homeownership equity program.
Prince George's County housing leadership presented a set of preservation and production tools aimed at preventing displacement and expanding homeownership.
Director Butler reviewed the county's affordability framework (housing is considered affordable if housing costs are under 30% of income) and explained preservation tools in use: right of first refusal (ROFR) for at‑risk properties, long‑term deed restrictions and affordability covenants (up to 40 years), and tenant protections such as Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) analogues. Butler said the county has several ROFR projects in the pipeline totaling roughly 450 units and highlighted a recent exercise of ROFR for Plaza Towers in Hyattsville that preserved about 288 units.
Butler described a 2024 Land Bank Authority law that allows the county to acquire vacant, tax‑delinquent or underutilized parcels to transfer to affordable housing developers, reducing land costs for deeper affordability. The presentation also outlined two county homeownership programs the county is working to implement: a Critical Workforce Assistance offering 0% interest deferred loans (not to exceed approximately $50,000) for eligible county employees and public sector workers up to 120% AMI, and a Homeownership Equity Program providing forgivable down payment and closing cost assistance for purchases inside the I‑95 Beltway.
Panelists urged complementary financing approaches: waiving impact fees for nonprofit developers, creating a leveraged preservation fund (modeled on DC's housing preservation fund) to pair modest public capital with CDFIs, and deploying shallow local vouchers to deepen affordability quickly during acquisitions. Council members asked staff to examine exemptions (for example, tax‑sale exemptions that prevent ROFR) and to supply a detailed breakdown of impact fee components for single‑family and multifamily projects.
Director Butler and panelists described next steps: finalize the Inclusionary Zoning feasibility study, stand up the land bank authority operations, and prepare implementation details for the county's workforce and homeownership programs.
