Rent in Montgomery County, Maryland, has been a contentious issue for months, with competing plans to try to grant relief to renters before the County Council.
On Wednesday, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich said he favored a compromise bill discussed by a council committee on Monday.
Under the plan, new rent increases would be capped at the rate of inflation plus 3% or 6% overall.
“This in no way prevents landlords from recovering costs that exceed inflation,” Elrich said, and it doesn’t prevent landlords from “getting rent increases to accommodate the increased costs of necessary capital improvements” made to their buildings.
The legislation was discussed by members of the Planning, Housing and Parks Committee on Monday.
The next county council session is on Tuesday, July 11, but so far no date has been set for the bill to go before the full council for a vote.
Last March, some 80 people signed up during a public hearing to discuss two bills aimed at tackling high rent, which Council President Evan Glass described as a “very emotional issue for a lot of people.”
