As Upzoning Gains Traction, Maryland Leads Way for Tenant Rights

Upzoning, popular in the West Coast, is now gaining traction in the East Coast as states such as Virginia and Maryland try to tackle the lack of affordable housing and rising rents in their cities. Beyond making sure rents are reasonable and resources such as transportation are accessible, however, Maryland is championing buyer and tenant rights with a suite of housing bills named “Homes for All.” If these bills pass, the state will lift zoning restrictions, generate a fund for public housing, and establish tenant rights, unleashing opportunities for new multifamily housing projects. 

For the past few years, cities and states on the West Coast have led the charge to build more dense housing and arrest fast-rising rents. Oregon passed the first-ever statewide law legalizing duplex homes in most cities, while California has debated one bill after another to increase the allowable housing near transit.

The East Coast has been slower to pick up on density as a solution to soaring costs for renters and home-buyers. But that may change in the new year. Late in December, Virginia became the first eastern state to see a proposal to prohibit bans on duplex housing across the state, among other housing fixes. Not to be outdone, Maryland will weigh a upzoning bill in 2020, plus a sweeping experiment to build European-style social housing across the state.

Next week, Maryland House Delegate Vaughn Stewart will introduce a suite of housing bills to expand rights for renters and options for buyers. This legislative “Homes for All” package would attack the affordability crisis on three fronts: by lifting zoning restrictions on new housing, generating a fund for public housing, and establishing new rights for tenants.

“What we’re really trying to convey is that the housing affordability crisis is so deep and so acute, that you can’t begin to solve it with just one solution,” Stewart says. “It’s time for the Maryland General Assembly’s response on housing to meet the scale of the problem.”

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