About 20 percent of housing scheduled for the future downtown Columbia could be available for lower-income residents and paid for through a fund run by a private, nonprofit group under a proposal from General Growth Properties Inc.

In July, the Chicago-based developer unveiled plans that would create five neighborhoods with 5,500 housing units, as well as retail, office, hotel and cultural space in downtown Columbia as part of a 30-year master plan for the area.

The overall concept of the master plan is to make downtown accessible to pedestrians, environmentally friendly and to connect neighborhoods with the Columbia mall and public spaces. County government officials expect to receive the formal plan from General Growth later this month.

Although details on the affordable housing component are still being worked out, the initial plan would be aimed at those making less than $80,000 a year and those within the $80,000 to $120,000 bracket, said Gregory Hamm, general manager for Columbia and a regional vice president with General Growth.

General Growth has targeted people within that salary range based on Howard County's median income of $101,672 and its average home price of more than $400,000. Affordable housing is traditionally defined as a home where the resident pays no more than 30 percent of annual household income on rent or mortgage payments.

General Growth would contribute start-up money to an affordable housing fund operated by a nonprofit and the fund would grow through contributions from developers buying land in the downtown area and fees charged to retail and commercial tenants, Hamm said.

"We think the idea has a lot of promise," he said.

Housing earmarked for lower-income residents would be built to the same quality standards as other homes and mixed among market-price houses and apartments, Hamm said.

Also among General Growth's plans are a rental assistance program and a shared-equity program in which a nonprofit organization would assist residents with the purchase of their homes while retaining some of the equity in the home upon its resale, Hamm said.

Flexible allotment of funds

Hamm also said he hopes to build a degree of flexibility into the nonprofit charged with overseeing affordable housing.

For instance, if residents feel there's a strong need for child care assistance, the program could use money from the fund to address the issue, he said.

"We would want the local group that manages this to really determine what the needs are at a given time," Hamm said. "We wanted them to have the flexibility to not only spend the money on housing; there could be other issues that are more urgent."

Included in the housing plans is the possibility of three- or four-bedroom units with a common bathroom that could be shared by students and other lower-income residents.

Sherman Howell, a member of the advisory group appointed by General Growth to make recommendations on affordable housing, said he thinks creating a multi-million dollar fund could be a successful way to address the shortage of housing for people with lower incomes.

Howell, the vice president of the African American Coalition of Howard County and a former member of a county government task force on affordable housing, said he liked keeping the responsibility on the private sector, rather than relying on government to handle it.

Having the power of General Growth behind the initiative will help convince developers to get on board, he added.

"There's always been a concern that the cost of land has been prohibiting affordable housing," he said. "It's definitely a serious issue ... our approach is an attempt to resolve this issue of land being too costly. We think we've come up with a way to deal with it."

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user comments (2)

user travis29 says...

While I do support providing housing for lower income people. I do worry that we will start to attract the wrong element into Howard county. The majority of us like living in Howard county because of the Quality of Life. Already though we are seeing people come into our community and are starting to pose a threat to us. What will the county do in order to keep crime down along and prevent the slow degradation of our county. I would hate for Howard County to become the next Laurel.

Posted 9:49 PM, 09.13.08

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user jjjenkin says...

Travis29, I have to agree with you completely. What looks good on paper and makes a great slogan or speech is unfortunately a pitfall for Columbia. There are many great parts of Columbia which are continually degrading into "the bad areas". I would not walk my children down the street in some of these areas.

What happened to slow growth in Columbia? We need to get rid of some of the existing low income housing and focus on restoring or upgrading some of the older structures that can benefit.

Looks like all the $$$ in Columbia will be moving West once we can get more money for our houses...it has already started to happen.

Posted 10:06 AM, 09.15.08

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