"We have a people crisis": Marylands Aggressive Pro Housing Legislation 2026

“We’ve done a fantastic job telling people where they can’t build… we never finished the equation.” (Jake Day, Secretary DHCD)

The general understanding that Maryland has a Housing crisis is well supported by a number of studies: Maryland hasn’t built enough housing for years. The state is short roughly 100,000 units today, and needs 590,000 new homes by 2045 to meet projected demand. Lots of people are cost-burdened, the lists of people waiting for housing vouchers or affordable units are endless. 

Housing Director Hickey (Baltimore County) and 
Secretary Day (right) share a word about development 
at a GGW event on Tuesday
(Photo Philipsen)

Relatively new is an understanding that this crisis is not only a problem for those who can't find the right housing for their needs but ripples through all kinds of aspects affecting the well being of the State as a whole. For example, by becoming a fiscal and an economic development problem. This is how it came that Comptroller Brooke Lierman had a study conducted which made big waves in the fall of last year. It showed that for 12 straight years, more Marylanders have left the state than moved in, in an accelerating trend. The study led Secretary Day to state that "we have a people problem" and need to attract a lot more young talent. 

Increasingly, there is a focus on the impediments standing in the way of new housing, namely a patchwork of zoning rules, local veto points, and well‑intentioned but restrictive smart‑growth policies. 

Baltimore County's Lutherville Station development, planned for many years but stalled due to local obstruction, has become an infamous poster-case for how people's fears -combined with current rules- can prevent housing even in most obviously suitable locations, such as Lutherville where several acres of former mall land sit mostly fallow right next to a train station.  (I reported about this case before here and Baltimore County's planning fallacies here). Urban style redevelopment near transit has been an explicit goal of many administrations, even under Governor Hogan. However, there are still plenty of rail stations around which not much happened. This appears to change under the Moore administration which puts previously unseen pressure on the issue. A recent positive development was announced in Friendship Heights for the former 20+ acre Geico campus.

Maryland housing production 2000-2024

Naturally, opposition to relaxing zoning and growth restrictions comes from both, conservatives and progressives, as well as from local government- always keen on maintaining almost exclusive rights to zoning. 

Another Baltimore County development case, the Red Maple development illustrates how hard it sometimes is to agree where more housing is appropriate. Steeped in environmental, historic and equity issues, the centrally located development on a wooded open space in a sensitive area was stalled for many years. After lengthy court battles it had recently begun moving forward but was just now temporarily halted again.

“Affordable housing is really important. Where that housing is is also important.” (State Senator Mary Washington)

Homes for America, the developer, has promised not to disturb the site’s small wetland and will preserve about half of the total land for open space. The development was alleged of causing additional stormwater runoff and adverse environmental impacts. In response the developer will stabilize a hillside, plant additional trees, address existing drainage issues and will build a 100-year flood tank to capture rainwater.

Maryland Housing Secretary Jake Day, Gov. Wes Moore and
Kenneth Naylor with Atlantic Pacific Cos., discuss future development
in the Capitol Heights area near its Metro station.
(Photo by Danielle J. Brown/Maryland Matters)

As Secretary Day puts it in a talk to housing advocates organized by Greater Greater Washington  "Those who want to keep everything as it is are just as motivated as we are. It won't be easy" [to pass all these bills]. But we are "ready to fight for the unpopular" if it is the right thing and "makes Maryland better". The odds are not too bad because this year even the Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) vowed cooperation in solving the housing problem. (Michael Sanderson, executive director for the Maryland Association of Counties says he is trying to find a "middle ground"). 

In Maryland's 2026 legislative session, the Moore-Miller Administration has introduced an aggressive "Housing Growth and Affordability Agenda" focused on increasing supply and reducing regulatory barriers.  The slew of bills under consideration includes these:

Maryland Transit & Housing Opportunity Act (HB 894): Targets Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) by eliminating parking minimums for housing within a quarter-mile of rail transit. It also delays the collection of certain impact fees until construction is complete to improve project feasibility.

Starter and Silver Homes Act of 2026 (HB 239): Aims to expand housing for young families and seniors by preempting local zoning that prohibits smaller, more affordable options. It limits minimum lot sizes to 5,000 square feet and allows townhomes in areas currently zoned only for single-family detached houses. "This bill may impose a mandate on a unit of local government" (Fiscal Note).

Housing Certainty Act of 2026 (HB 548): Establishes "early vesting" rights for developers, ensuring that if local zoning rules change after a permit application is submitted, the original rules still apply to that project. This bill establishes that a housing development project application approval or denial is governed only by laws and regulations in effect when a substantially complete application was submitted, and after approval, the project has a vested right for the longer of five years or a period determined by the local jurisdiction. The bill also prohibits a county or municipality from collecting development impact fees or excise taxes imposed on a residential real estate project until after construction is complete and all requirements for a certificate of occupancy, occupancy permit, or other equivalent have been met.

Bring Back Main Street (HB 1137): Requiring certain counties to allow multifamily developments and mixed-use developments as a permitted use on certain parcels or lots; prohibiting certain counties from imposing certain restrictions, requirements, or limitations on permitted developments; authorizing certain counties to require a permitted development to have a certain percentage of available floor space dedicated to retail uses and to include on-site parking;

Maryland Generational Housing Act of 2026 (HB 1538): A Republican-sponsored bill that would require local laws to authorize at least one internal and one external Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) on certain lands, regardless of existing density limits.

Fair Housing and Housing Discrimination (HB 0573): This bill alters State statute related to housing discrimination to prohibit a person from acting in a manner that has a “discriminatory effect.” Authorizing the Department of Housing and Community Development to adopt certain regulations related to affirmatively furthering fair housing; providing that certain discriminatory housing practices may be committed without intent; prohibiting a person from acting in a certain manner that has a discriminatory effect; and providing that certain conduct necessary to achieve certain nondiscriminatory interests does not constitute a certain violation.

Tenant Protections & Transparency (HB 80): Requires landlords to disclose all mandatory fees to prospective tenants before a lease is signed and prohibits undisclosed fees.

Rights of Unhoused Individuals (HB 104): Prevents law enforcement from ticketing or arresting individuals experiencing homelessness without first offering them available shelter.

Retaliatory Downzoning (HB 1517) protecting certain qualified projects by requiring a local jurisdiction to allow the density of a certain qualified project to exceed the density otherwise authorized; and permitting a certain qualified project to consist of certain types of developments with certain density limits under certain circumstances.

Two other housing related bills are HB 774 (Good Cause Eviction), and HB 778 (Middle Housing Options).

A discussion of the housing crisis including positions of Secretary Day, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, Preservation MD CEO Nicolas Redding and Land Use lawyer Tom Coale can be heard on this Maryland Now podcast.

The path forward should not consist in throwing out protective measures in general but in removing restrictions in areas where housing development should happen, for example near transit or in highly walkable population centers. Innovation and creativity are urgently needed in design, production and policy to address the combined housing, economic development, climate and sustainability crisis. As much as immediate action is needed, it is also necessary to maintain the long view including our natural environment, the demographics of an aging population and the shifting ways how we work. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

Related: Zoning reform bills in Baltimore City: Housing Regulations to be Relaxed in Baltimore City

See also Tom Coale's paper: How to Streamline Maryland's Housing Permitting

Baltimore County to City Trail: After 54 Years Follow the Plans!

How can an idea born back in 1973 by a wealthy Baltimore "housewife (SUN) that garnered popular support then and eventually found its way into official plans of Baltimore City 2006 and again in 2015 still not be a reality in 2026? Welcome to a world were plans far exceed realizations. 

The simple idea: Take the abandoned right of way of the old Catonsville Short Line tracks and use it for a bike and hike trail connecting Baltimore County's westside to the existing Gwynn Falls trail in the city. This very concept with an extension to the Gwynn's Falls trail was shown in the 2007 and 2015 bike and trail masterplans. 

At a fork in the track:
Where will the Short Line trail go?
(Photo: Philipsen)

However, half a century later, the matter has become ever more complicated. An abundance of obstacles raised their head, from the widened beltway that claimed the old rail bridge crossing in 1985, to the private Loudon cemetery placing grave sites on the right of way, a senior living compound placing its fence in it, to the MTA that wants to revive the Claremont Branch for trains. It is part of the trail alignment and vital to the connection to the existing Gwynns Falls Trail. 

MTA wants to be able to switch trains between the MARC Penn Line and the MARC Camden Line (PCC). The nearly $233 million estimated total cost MTA project is currently in its concept stage ("30% engineering"), which also involves public participation.

A dedicated group of volunteers, the Catonsville Rails to Trails (CRTT) had moved heaven and earth to get the two segments of the CSL right of way (ROW) already converted to a trail, both in in Baltimore County and built with support of the community, businesses, and Baltimore County Rec & Parks. The Catonsville group previously had realized a popular Catonsville trail to Ellicott City on the former streetcar right of way of the No. 8 Catonsville - Towson line.
CRTT is optimistic about funding a new beltway crossing and has funded moving hundreds of feet of Charlestown Retirement community fencing to continue the trail beyond its current eastern end at the Baltimore National Cemetery to join the newest section of the trail at S. Beechfield Ave.

A new City led initiative that would become the Catonsville to Baltimore Greenway Coalition (CBGC), was formed in 2023 to advocate for a trail that would connect the Catonsville Short Line Trail to the Gwynns Falls Trails. The national Rails to Trails Conservancy organization and the Baltimore active transportation advocacy group Bikemore helped leaders from the Gwynns Falls Community Association, Irvington, and Beechfield organize a new group that meets bi-monthly at St. Agnes Hospital.

CBGC believes they can negotiate their way around the graves because their legality is in dispute and get Amtrak to allow use of an existing but currently unused underpass under Amtrak's four track Northeast Corridor running along Loudon cemetery as part of the Douglass Tunnel community benefits agreements. (Amtrak also wants to build a drainage culvert near the underpass). CBGC has the support of adjacent community organizations and stakeholders such as St Agnes Hospital. 

Delegates Ruth and Ebersole hiked for 2.5 hours to see the alignment and so did a number of Baltimore City council members and a representative of Congressman Olszewski's office.

The first segment of the trail in Baltimore City
in a temporary state of improvement (Photo: Philipsen)

underpass). 

In spite of all the support, so far trail promoters are biting their teeth out on the portion of the trail that is called the Claremont Branch, another abandoned railroad south of the Amtrak corridor. MTA is resisting considering a rail connection that could run parallel to a bike-hike trail. MTA envisions that one day they may want to have passenger service on the connector, and appears to plan for electric power lines (catenary), maximal safety distances, sound barriers and fencing, in all demanding more space than is available.

The trail advocates launched a campaign to send messages to MTA in support of a combined use as it was done, for example, at MTA's Purple Line in the DC area and a scaled down arrangement that possibly would still meet requirements of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) using examples of the FRA guidebook of best practices.

Bicycle and pedestrian trails are popular, especially those which are separated from roads and use abandoned railroad ROWs which are never very steep and often elegantly traverse barriers such as streams and roads in grade separated underpasses or bridges, thus being able to go over longer distances without too many barriers or dangerous crossings. Such trails are suitable for commuting to work, recreational use and safe enough for families with children to use whether for walking, hiking or biking. The most popular trail of this kind in our area is probably the Northern Central Railway (NCR) Trail, stretching north for about 40 miles from Ashland into PA for hiking, biking, and horseback riding. 

Catonsville to Baltimore Greenway and phasing 

In older post industrial environments like ours those abandoned railroads are ubiquitous and often forgotten opportunities to expand and connect a trail network. 

However, these forgotten old rail lines also represent good opportunities for expanding freight rail and rail transit services also much in demand in the region; a preprogrammed conflict that can only be resolved with mutual concessions. There is no doubt that the proposed rail Connector will be very beneficial for MARC operations which currently rely on storing trains at Union Station with very restricted possibilities for dispatch and daily inspections. But there is also no doubt that it will bring noise and access impacts to disadvantages communities along the  ROW, rising the specter of community benefits of which the trail and access to green spaces could be one.

In the case of the Penn Camden Connector, with some good will and additional funds it shouldn't be too hard to accommodate a trail alongside trains that operate only occasionally in non-revenue service mode and given the short distance could do so slowly and safely. 

Klaus Philipsen, FAIA

 Penn-Camden Connector overview (MTA)

1973 SUN article about the Catonsville Short Line as a trail

How the Penn Camden Connector would tie in with the NEC tracks

Pinchpoint: bridges over Wilkens and Caton Ave (Photo: Philipsen)

Section showing train next to trail (Rails and Trails DOT)