The Task Force includes five subcommittees or teams working to create the structure from which we are building momentum.
Led by Jodie Ostoich of Interfaith Housing Alliance (IHA), this team works with the faith community to explore creating housing on House of Worship property.
We are looking at a range of housing types, from tiny homes to townhomes. We are prioritizing the needs of vulnerable seniors for some of our first projects. We have met several times with Enterprise Community Partners to explore their Faith Based Initiative Development opportunity.
We plan to demonstrate innovative housing solutions that could be replicated across Frederick. We are constructing a “Look-Book” of sorts that shows each type of housing, the cost, zoning requirements and options, and other unique considerations for each project.
Our Community Engagement team is led by Neil Donnelly of On Our Own, Frederick. This group is working to highlight the need for deeply affordable housing here in Frederick, as well as invite those most in need of such housing to help shape solutions.
They are tasked with developing presentations and creating promotional or outreach materials, as well as updating this site.
Our Policy and Advocacy subcommittee identifies a range of policies that could invite a wider range of affordable housing options in Frederick. These include the recent discussion about an SRO ordinance, the affordable housing overlay, housing by right on faith partners property. It also highlights various funding sources that could help support demonstration projects as we develop small prototype housing initiatives that could be replicated across our city and county.
Our Landlord Engagement subcommittee is exploring best practices in expanding the pool of landlords who might work directly with a “housing locator” who is developing an inventory of most affordable units, when vacancies occur, and offering a subsidy and service provider connection to help address the ongoing bottleneck of those who can’t afford market rent and who will never get a voucher.
Our Supportive Services Subcommittee, led by Melanie Cox, is working to ensure that housing is designed with the needs of the resident in mind. This is especially important for seniors. We want to make sure that high quality services are ensured through essential partnerships with experienced service providers.