Growing up, Sarah Lacey says she was dumbfounded by the fact that some people don’t have a place to call home — the Anne Arundel County Council member remembers seeing homeless people and asking why they didn’t have a place to live.
Years later, as Lacey is getting the same questions from her four children, her convictions haven’t wavered.
“I’m not ashamed to say it: I believe housing is a human right,” she said. “We just have to do better.”
Now, Lacey, who represents District 1, is working alongside County Executive Steuart Pittman and her fellow council members to bring fair and affordable housing to Anne Arundel County and tackle inequity in the market.
Pittman laid out their plan to do so at an open forum hosted by the Anne Arundel Affordable Housing Coalition on Thursday, describing legislation coming down the line that aims to combat housing discrimination and expand options for working families.
He also announced that in his proposed budget for the county, which the council will debate on June 14, he requested $3 million be set aside for housing — more than double last year’s $1.3 million.
Activists for affordable housing say Anne Arundel’s prices are out of reach for many residents. In April 2019, the average home sale price was more than $400,000, according to a press release from Pittman’s office.
According to the same press release, the county is also the only one in the Baltimore Metropolitan Council’s Regional Fair Housing Group without a local fair housing law. In September, Pittman said Maryland’s American Civil Liberties Union “came after” Anne Arundel for coming up short in providing housing to its residents, free of discrimination.
“But that’s not the only reason we’re doing this,” he said. “We’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do.”
On Monday, Lacey introduced a bill to close this gap. If passed, this legislation would prohibit discrimination in housing based on 17 classes, including source of income, citizenship, occupation and gender identity or expression.
And this was only the first half of the bill: Lacey said she also has plans to introduce additional legislation that would provide additional avenues for people to flag instances of housing discrimination without having to file a lawsuit.
This is important because most people facing these situations “don’t have the time or the money to file suit, and it really doesn’t get them anywhere, because they still need to be housed while they’re filing suit.”
Another bill, also introduced on Monday, would bolster workforce housing in the county by expanding the zones in which it is allowed to be built. Council Chairman Andrew Pruski is the lead sponsor on this piece of legislation.
In addition, Council members Allison Pickard and Lisa Rodvien are drafting legislation that would usher in more moderately priced dwelling units in the county and establish a trust fund for constructing affordable housing developments.
Pittman added that his office is also looking into other options to make Anne Arundel a more affordable place to call home, including adding mobile home parks to the county and constructing tiny homes.
“I think we’re going to be able to do all of this while still preserving the natural beauty of the county,” he said. “So we can make Anne Arundel County the best place for everyone.”
