A day after President Joe Biden outlined his plan to lower costs for struggling Americans, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge met with elected officials from the D.C. region to discuss ways the federal government can help address housing shortages and increase affordable housing development.
“They had wonderful ideas,” said Fudge. “What they talked about is how we can assist them with things like paying down the costs of rentals and homeowners — how we can start to look at vouchers in a different way.”
Fudge led a roundtable discussion at the Lewis, a brand new affordable housing complex for seniors located at the Towne Square at Suitland Federal Center, in Prince George’s County. Attendees included Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler and Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall.
Towne Square is a 25-acre mixed-use development that will include more than 1,000 apartments and single family homes, 100,000 square feet of retail space and a 50,000-square-foot performing arts center.
The public-private partnership is the largest redevelopment project in the county, and includes hundreds of workforce housing units for public employees, such as teachers, firefighters and federal workers.
“We set the price at a rate a teacher could buy,” said developer Harold Johnson, of Cober Johnson and Romney Real Estate, who said those units start at $300,000.
“As Prince George’s County continues to grow, we want to grow in a smart way that doesn’t leave our residents behind,” said Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks. “We have launched several programs to preserve and expand affordable housing in our county, several of which have been supported with federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act.”
Prince George’s County also recently invested $15 million in American Rescue Plan Act money to its Right of First Refusal program, which will enable the county to preserve affordable housing along the Purple Line corridor.
