Category: Affordable Housing

CSG Sign-On Letter Re: Failure to Pay Rent Cases in Montgomery County

Posted on by Emily Maurer

March 19, 2021 

The Honorable Mary Ellen Barbera, Chief Judge  

Court of Appeals of Maryland  

361 Rowe Boulevard  

Annapolis, Maryland 21401  

The Honorable John P. Morrissey, Chief Judge  

District Court of Maryland  

Maryland Judicial Center  

187 Harry S. Truman Parkway  

Annapolis, Maryland 21401  

Re: Clearing a Backlog of Failure to Pay Rent Cases 

Dear Chief Judge Barbera and Chief Judge Morrissey: 

We are writing to make you aware of some jurisdictions’ unreasonable treatment of the  extraordinary backlog of Failure to Pay Rent cases. The problem primarily concerns Montgomery  County, but other jurisdictions are likely to adopt similar practices to Montgomery County in  dealing with their backlog. We propose a simple solution that creates automatic, “on-the-record”  dismissal for very old summonses filed unless the plaintiff takes one minor step to preserve it.  Since the backlog consists primarily of cases filed before December 1, 2020, the approximate date  that the courts closed again to most landlord-tenant actions, that is the relevant date for purposes  of defining what a “very old” case is. We urge you to adopt this proposal statewide. 

The Problem: An Unreasonable Schedule to Clear Substantial Backlogs In order to get through more than 14,000 backlogged Failure to Pay Rent (FTPR) cases in  Montgomery County landlord-tenant court, the administrative judges have proposed opening the  Silver Spring courthouse to a “rocket docket”—three courtrooms, four dockets per day, sixty cases  per docket, five days a week, for more than a month. This equates to 3,600 cases per week, or 720  cases per day. This does not include all the cases that will continue in the Rockville courthouse for  Tenant Holding Over, Breach of Lease, and other landlord-tenant actions. And it represents a  2500% increase in the number of FTPR cases typically heard in a given week. This rocket docket  is scheduled to begin April 5, 2021. We have recently received a docket grid confirming that the  County is proceeding with this plan. 

This volume of cases imposes an unreasonable burden on members of the bar representing both  landlords and tenants, and does not serve the interests of justice. Lawyers cannot be expected to  spend a full day, five days a week, litigating cases without attending to their other duties. They  cannot attend hearings in both Silver Spring and Rockville courthouses at the same time. They  cannot provide competent representation to clients when their workload balloons to four or five  times their normal level for an extended period of time. 

On the tenants’ attorneys’ side, this proposal has meant mobilizing nearly all of the attorneys at  nonprofit organizations providing legal services in Montgomery County to try and cover just this backlog alone. Maryland Legal Aid is more than doubling their presence in landlord-tenant court,  and both the Homeless Persons Representation Project (HPRP) and CASA are using all of their  available attorney resources to try and cover these cases.  

On the landlords’ attorneys’ side, one firm typically represents a given landlord for all of its  eviction cases, but that firm’s attorneys appear in various courthouses across Maryland as well as  Virginia and the District of Columbia. Thus, the five-days-a-week scheduling mandate will mean  that attorneys will not be able to represent landlords in these cases, or will have to propose  rescheduling, which threatens to make the proposed schedule ineffective in the first place.  Alternatively, they will have to represent their client on hundreds of cases in a single day. 

Most of these 14,000 cases will be moot or dismissed anyway. Landlords of tenants who still owe  money will be almost certain to refile soon if they haven’t already, given that the courts have  returned to Phase IV. Landlords are almost certain to refile because, for many months, they have  been unable to proceed on eviction cases for a tenant’s failure to pay rent between December 2020  and March 2021. If rent from prior to December is still owed, a landlord’s refiling will likely also  include a demand for such rent. That fact would make the vast majority of cases filed prior to  December moot as duplicative. If rent from prior to December is not owed, because the tenant has  paid something towards their rental debt, then these cases are also moot. And if the tenant has  vacated the unit, then the case should be dismissed for a third reason. Thus, almost all of these  cases should be dismissed even if a hearing is held. In light of this fact, the reasonable solution is  not to hold individual hearings on every individual case, as Montgomery County plans to do in  rushed form, but to flip the default to automatic dismissal unless the landlord states formally that  they wish to proceed. 

The proposed 3,600-cases-per-week schedule is also an enormous administrative burden to the  courts. Hearing each case individually threatens to consume court staff with long days and  hundreds of cases in a short timeframe. It is not clear to us how quadrupling their work for a month  will do more than simply clog the pipeline for future cases. Moreover, justice cannot be done in  two minutes, yet that is the amount of time each case will have in each courtroom, if proposals like  these are to be adopted. When faced with this question, the bench seems to be counting on upwards  of 95% of defendants to miss their hearings. Respectfully, we should be doing the exact opposite:  encouraging tenants to show up for their court dates to make sure that their case is heard by a fair  and neutral arbiter of justice. 

Finally, this proposal threatens to be a public health disaster. Despite decreasing case rates and  increasing access to vaccinations, the COVID-19 pandemic continues to present very real public  health concerns. Maryland continues to operate under a State of Emergency declared by Governor  Hogan. Montgomery County is properly retaining protections such as capacity limits in businesses,  a mask mandate and other common-sense public safety protocols. Tenants’ and landlords’  attorneys are not in line to receive the vaccine imminently, as many court personnel are, yet they  are expected to meet with and represent dozens of clients each day. Even a small fraction of the  720 tenants showing up for their court date on a single day will almost certainly violate public  health orders, especially in the Silver Spring courthouse, where there is less space and it is nearly  impossible to keep six feet of social distance. Other courthouses are sure to face similar problems.

The Solution: On-the-Record Dismissal 

Our proposal of “on-the-record dismissal” is simple. Some of the signatories to this letter have  proposed legislation, a copy of which is appended to this letter, which could potentially be helpful  in dealing with situations like this in future, but will not likely be enacted in time to deal with  today’s crisis. Only you have the authority to take the bold and immediate action necessary to  resolve this problem, as it deals solely with the administration of the courts. 

The proposal is as follows: For each FTPR complaint or summons filed prior to December 1, 2020,  the landlord must reassert, in a signed declaration, that the statements in the summons are still  correct and valid. Then the landlord must serve this declaration on the tenant by regular mail at  least ten days before the hearing. If the landlord fails to sign this declaration or serve it on the  tenant, or if any change in circumstances vitiates the original cause of action, the case will  automatically be dismissed. 

Under this proposal, there is no need to conduct a hearing. There is no chance of an erroneous  eviction judgment against a former tenant who has already vacated the apartment, as often happens  in very old landlord-tenant filings. At the same time, if the landlord’s claim is still viable, the  landlord may take this very small step and proceed with the hearing on the scheduled court date.  And if the landlord does not take these steps, they are not prejudiced in refiling. In fact, they likely  already have refiled by the time of this court hearing. 

Addressing Potential Concerns 

Under the current proposed process for dealing with old landlord-tenant cases, everyone loses.  Under our proposal, everyone wins: the landlords focus on renewed efforts to obtain eviction  judgments; the tenants do not have to go to court to answer for debts they’ve already paid; the  attorneys do not have to quadruple their workload for mostly moot cases; and no one has to expose  themselves unnecessarily to COVID-19 in a crowded courthouse. 

This proposal does not seriously burden landlords. In essence, it simply asks them to redeclare the  validity of their debt, which is already a prerequisite to obtaining a judgment in the first place. It  may even be a financial boon to landlords who do not have to deal with two, three, or four separate  eviction cases, paying their attorneys and trying to collect on piecemeal debts. At the same time,  it does not unreasonably favor tenants, even though many signatories to this letter have advocated  for stronger tenant protections in other forums. Landlords can still proceed against tenants on the  complaints they have made, if desired.  

This proposal enhances the efficiency of the courts. Instead of conducting hundreds of individual  hearings each day, risking unjustified default judgments against tenants, judges can order  automatic dismissals within a few seconds. This procedure is very similar to one of the provisions  in the CARES Act from April 2020, which required dismissal if certain landlords did not make  appropriate declarations in their complaints. 

Finally, this proposal is temporary. As it only applies to cases from before the courts closed, there  will be no threat of a landlord failing to abide by an additional procedural requirement in the future.  This is merely a matter of administrative convenience.

We would be happy to meet and discuss this proposal at your earliest convenience, but as we have  stated above, time is of the essence. Once this “rocket docket” is implemented in Montgomery  County, it will have a devastating negative impact on our members and clients, as well as their  families. Correcting the errors and miscarriages of justice that will result from this system will  become an entirely separate problem, which will only add further burden to attorneys and the  courts.  

We urge you again to immediately use your inherent powers to control the functioning of the courts  and adopt our proposal. If the proposal cannot be accepted in its current form, we urge you to make  other arrangements as soon as possible to drastically reduce the number of cases scheduled, such as ordering a cap on the number of FTPR cases that can be heard per day. An ordered and efficient  clearing of the FTPR backlog is essential to the administration of justice. 

Sincerely, 

CASA, Housing Initiative Partnership, The Latino Economic Development Center, Homeless Persons Representation Project, Coalition for Smarter Growth, Renters Alliance, Jews United for Justice, IMPACT Silver Spring, Progressive Maryland, Sisterhood of Salam Shalah, Silver Spring. Public Justice Center, Takoma Park Mobilization, Global Land Alliance, Everyday Canvassing, Disability Rights Maryland, Montgomery County Racial Equity Network, Montgomery County Democratic Socialists of America

Addendum 1: Proposed Legislation to Deal with Administrative Backlog in Failure to Pay  Rent cases 

(a) For any pending Failure to Pay Rent case filed by a landlord prior to December 1, 2020, a  landlord shall: 

(1) sign a sworn statement confirming that 

(A) upon information and belief, the tenant is still in possession of the unit; 

(B) the amount of the rent owed, as declared in the summons, is still accurate, or,  if not accurate, the new amount owed for that specific period of time; AND 

(C) the time periods for which rent is owed, as declared in the summons, are still  accurate, or, if not accurate, the months owed for that specific period of time; Provided, however, that a landlord may not declare rent owed for any amount of time  after the last month requested in the original summons. 

AND 

(2) serve the statement in subparagraph (1) on the tenant and his or her attorney via first class mail or certified mail at least ten days before the hearing. 

(b) The court shall dismiss any case in which 

(1) a landlord fails to properly file and serve the statement referred to in paragraph (a); or (2) the amount of the declared debt for the months declared is $0. 

(c) If the court dismisses a Failure To Pay Rent case based on the landlord’s failure to comply  with these provisions, nothing in this bill shall prevent a landlord from refiling for the months  and amounts owed.

CSG Comments on ALU proposal in zMOD

Posted on by Emily Maurer

March 9, 2021 

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors 

12000 Government Center Parkway 

Fairfax, VA 22035 

CSG-comments-on-zMOD-1Download

RE: Testimony in Support of Accessory Living Unit Provision of zMOD

Chairman McKay and Members of the Board: 

Please accept these comments on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG), the leading organization in the DC region advocating for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. CSG appreciates Fairfax County’s efforts to update its zoning ordinance. Our comments focus primarily on the proposed accessory living unit (ALU) provisions, which we fully support. CSG has become a leading expert on Accessory Dwelling Units through our work in DC and our just-released DC ADU homeowners manual. 

We also support the liberalization of home-based businesses — particularly in view of the advantages we have seen for home-based work during the pandemic. Home-based businesses would be a great benefit to stay-at-home parents, people with disabilities who have trouble traveling, and the Fairfax economy. 

The need: Housing in the county is expensive, shutting out young adults, downsizing empty-nesters, essential workers, teachers, firefighters, and many more. Prices are high and smaller homes can be hard to find. If this pandemic has shown us anything – a home is vital to our health and well-being. Now is the time for Fairfax County to prepare for the future and ensure people have affordable places to live in our county.

Accessory living units can offer less expensive housing options than renting or buying a single-family home because of their smaller size and provide housing opportunities in communities that might otherwise be too expensive. ALUs can also offer a stream of income for homeowners, including lower-income homeowners and retirees on fixed incomes. 

Changes proposed are modest and should not be weakened as the Planning Commission proposes: While Fairfax County staff has proposed some positive changes to the ALU policy, which is a step in the right direction, they are very modest and do not go far enough to truly make ALUs a viable housing option in the county. The Planning Commission is proposing to weaken these further by keeping the special permit process in place for interior units for several more years. This will further delay the wide ranging response the county needs to apply to the affordability crisis we’re facing. 

Supporting ALUs is in line with Fairfax County’s goals. The Communitywide Housing Strategic Plan developed in 2018 at the request of the Board of Supervisors recommends that the zoning update modify the county’s accessory dwelling policy, now known as accessory living units, and to explore zoning districts for missing middle housing types. However, this zoning update does not tackle ALUs robustly enough and does not consider missing middle housing options at all. 

Looking at the comparison chart in the ALU fact sheet provided on the zMOD website, you can see that Fairfax County is lagging behind other local jurisdictions that are doing more to embrace accessory dwellings as a tool to provide more housing options. Meanwhile, Arlington, Montgomery, and DC are all taking steps to study and expand missing middle housing. 

Recommendations: CSG supports the county’s proposal to remove the current age and disability requirement for all ALUs. No other local jurisdiction has this requirement. Removing the age and disability requirement is more equitable so people of varying ages can take advantage of these types of apartments. It provides greater flexibility to a homeowner to provide a home for an adult child and other family members or friends needing a moderately priced apartment.

Streamlining the process for interior ALUs located within the main home by allowing for administrative approval will make the process less burdensome and costly for homeowners. ALUs, like the principal home, must meet all required building and zoning codes and are subject to inspection. According to the ALU fact sheet on the zMOD website, Loudoun, Arlington, Montgomery, and DC have moved to allow ALUs by administrative approval. 

The 2-acre requirement for detached units is unfortunate and retains an inequitable requirement by only allowing detached ALUs for those who can afford 2 plus acres. It also puts these detached units in car-dependent locations. Homeowners throughout most of the county should have the right to build a detached unit on their property. 

In fact, Fairfax County should particularly encourage detached ALUs near transit stations and transit-rich corridors. This can be done by removing the 2-acre requirement for detached accessory dwellings and allowing them on smaller lots closer to activity centers and transit. In addition, removing the parking requirement when ALUs are within a mile of frequent transit helps to remove another regulatory and cost barrier and incentivizes housing in the right places. 

The Board should accept the staff recommendations for ALUs and home-based businesses, and reject the Planning Commission’s proposed rollbacks. The county can then monitor the implementation of these changes as part of a more robust study to expand the creation of ALUs and evaluate missing middle housing needs and solutions. 

Conclusion: We encourage the County to take the necessary steps to further expand opportunities for accessory living units and missing middle housing in the county as a way to make more affordable homes available in our communities. Creating more housing opportunities near transit and jobs is essential to ensuring an inclusive and economically prosperous Fairfax County where people are able to live near their work, helping to reduce long commutes through the county, and contributing to a diverse and vibrant community. 

Thank you for your time and consideration. 

Sonya Breehey 

Northern Virginia Advocacy Manager

CSG Testimony in Support of Heritage at Old Town

Posted on by Emily Maurer
2021.02.20-CSG-Testimony-to-City-Council-for-Heritage-at-Old-TownDownload

Testimony to Alexandria City Council in Support of the Heritage at Old Town 

Rezoning #2020-00006 

Development Special Use Permit #2020-10032 

Transportation Management Plan Special Use Permit 2020-00084 

February 20, 2020 

Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director 

Good afternoon, Mayor and Council. Thank you for serving our city during these challenging times.  

My name is Stewart Schwartz and I am the Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth,  the leading organization in the D.C. region advocating walkable, inclusive, transit-oriented  communities as the most sustainable and equitable way to grow and provide opportunities for all. We are a 24-year-old non-profit with partnerships that span the conservation, affordable housing,  social equity, transit, bike/ped, and business sectors. In 2017, we received the Metropolitan  Washington Council of Governments (COG) Regional Partnership Award. 

We urge you to approve the Heritage at Old Town.  

Alexandria has lost over 90% of its affordable housing over the past two decades. We face a  housing affordability crisis in Alexandria and neighboring jurisdictions. Multiple studies demonstrate  that we need both more supply and more long-term committed affordable units. This project  provides both. Supply is critical to avoid displacement, and a range of tools are needed including  leveraging land value and density to ensure we create more affordable units. 

We work in multiple jurisdictions in the DC region and we can confirm that the City of Alexandria  does its homework. The result here from city and community input is a project that provides the  housing we need in a well-designed development, with much improved streetscape, pedestrian connectivity, and park spaces. Alexandria offers a very walkable, mixed-use environment with  excellent transit – planned to be even better with the redesigned bus network which will provide  frequent all-day, seven day per week service. Far more traffic would be generated through  Alexandria if our communities pushed all development out to auto-dependent locations. 

The project will buffer the neighborhood from the wide, noisy Route 1 entry to Old Town, and has  been designed to step down to the adjacent rowhouses. For nearly 25 years I lived near Braddock  Metro in a four-story condo building across from single-family homes, next to townhomes and 7  and 9 story condo buildings, and within sight of much taller buildings. Public housing was just a  block away. The neighborhood is wonderful, however, it has lost diversity — because when those buildings were built the city did not have the strategies in place to ensure a mix of housing  affordability. That’s why the new RMF zoning applied here is such an important tool. It enables 197  units of deeply affordable housing by a private developer without a public subsidy, allowing the city  to direct its affordable housing funds to other projects, creating additional housing. This level of  long-term and deep level of affordability without subsidy is extremely rare and a big benefit of the project. 

The pandemic has illustrated just who are our most essential workers and the extreme stress they  are under due to high housing prices. The racial equity crisis has demonstrated how poorly we have  served people of color in our community and nation. It is time to ensure a more inclusive  community for the long-term. We urge you to approve the Heritage at Old Town. 

Thank you.

RELEASE: Diverse group of housing supporters urges Chairman Mendelson & DC Council to pass the DC Comp Plan

RELEASE: Diverse group of housing supporters urges Chairman Mendelson & DC Council to pass the DC Comp Plan

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

Today, the Housing Priorities Coalition and allies urged the DC Council to pass the DC Comprehensive Plan Amendment Act. The letter cited the Comp Plan update as one of our most critical tools to address housing affordability, racial equity and a number of other challenges. The proposed legislation has been waiting for DC Council action since the Mayor submitted it in April 2020.

HPC Comp Plan February 2021 DC Council LetterDownload

The Housing Priorities Coalition formed four years ago to help update the DC Comprehensive Plan, the land use policy that guides development decisions in the District.  Learn more here.

CSG Testimony in Support of PG 416-21: Finish the Countywide Rezoning

CSG Testimony in Support of PG 416-21: Finish the Countywide Rezoning

Posted on by Cheryl Cort

RE: Testimony in Support for PG 416-21: Prince George’s County – Public Ethics – Definition of Application

Click here for CSG testimony in support of PG-416-21Download

At the Virtual Delegation Bill Hearing on Local/Bi-County Legislation By The Prince George’s County House Delegation, February 2, 20201

By Cheryl Cort, Policy Director, Coalition for Smarter Growth

Dear Members of the Delegation:

Please accept these comments on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth. The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization working locally in the Washington, DC metropolitan region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Our mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish.

We are pleased to provide testimony in support of PG 416-21. This bill provides a legislative adjustment needed to complete the Prince George’s County Zoning and Subdivision rewrite. A uniquely Prince George’s County ethics law has tripped up the Countywide Zoning Map Amendment (CMA), which is the last step in the zoning rewrite process. This ethics law doesn’t exist anywhere else in the state including in Montgomery County or Baltimore City which has already updated their zoning regulations.

The County’s zoning rewrite was adopted by the Prince George’s County Council in December 2018. After the late 2018 adoption, the Countywide Zoning Map Amendment (CMA) process was initiated. The CMA is the final stage where the rewritten zoning regulations are implemented by applying the new or updated zones to the County’s zoning map.

Over the course of a number of years, we worked with stakeholders and community activists to engage in the public process to update the county’s outmoded zoning and subdivision regulations. We have advocated for the adoption of the modernized regulations through various public fora, and hearings by the County Council.

We made this a priority because this zoning rewrite is a significant advance for the county. The zoning rewrite and CMA are worth the effort because they replace the county’s current obsolete and cumbersome zoning regulations which are holding back the county. Here are some of the ways the zoning and subdivision process will improve:

  • Design and building form standards: the document establishes transit-oriented zones at the local and regional scales to support the goals of walkable urbanism, creating walkable, and bikable areas that are well-connected to transit;
  • Parking standards for urban and transit-oriented areas: the zoning rewrite reduces excessive minimum parking requirements in transit-oriented centers in order to support more multimodal designs and uses.
  • Street designs: the revisions require interconnected streets, shorter blocks, and pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure. It implements newly adopted urban street design standards that support walk and bike friendly streets.  
  • Transportation demand management: the regulations also establish progressive traffic reduction measures that emphasize encouraging more people to ride transit if available, bicycle, share rides and walk.
  • Ease of use: The zoning and subdivision regulations are presented in a more readable format providing tables and graphic illustrations to better understand and visualize the standards.
  • Ending perpetual approvals: The zoning rules establish limits on approvals after a number of years. Today, approvals are allowed to live on forever, despite significant changes that may occur after initially projected conditions. While some of the provisions seem overly generous, setting the proposed limits would be a big step forward for the county.

The proposed legislation is clear — this is specific to the CMA, not for everyday zoning and development review matters that come before the Council. For all these reasons, we urge the delegation to adopt the bill to accommodate the Council’s role and responsibility in adopting the CMA. We believe implementation of the zoning and subdivision rewrite is a tremendous improvement for the county and the community. It is a once in a generation opportunity.

Thank you for your consideration.