How to Fix the Affordable Housing Gap

<p>There is a campaign underway in Howard County Maryland to increase the supply of housing and make it more affordable.  Currently more than 50% of teachers, as an example,live elsewhere because they can’t afford to live in the county. </p><p>Median homes price is more than$600,000. Median rent is $2100.</p><p>Barriers: zoning, the stigma of affordable housing (even in a progressive county), layers of regulation, and slow progress on new construction. </p><p>The county will have a new county executive after November. Housing activists have a playbook ready.</p><p>My conversation is with Nikki Highsmith Vernick, Presidentand CEO of the Horizon Foundation, located in Columbia Maryland.</p><p>And Jessamine Duvall, executive director of Bridges toHousing Stability, also located in Columbia.</p><p></p>