A former state office building on Guilford Avenue in Baltimore has a unique honor: It is the only surplus state land that has been targeted for new affordable housing development after three years of trying under current state law.
It’s an underwhelming result for lawmakers who hoped to be able to offer unused state land for new housing development and cut down on Maryland’s shortage of affordable housing.
That’s one reason the Moore administration included language to streamline the current cumbersome framework for identifying surplus property as part of an executive order last week aimed at helping the state meet its ambitious housing goals.
“We need to move faster to build new homes,” Gov. Wes Moore (D) said as he signed the order. “We need to move faster to make homes more affordable and protect our renters. We need to move faster to create a housing market that is more competitive.”
The surplus property proposal is just one of several in the order designed to fast-track housing development and cut into the estimated 96,000-unit shortage that officials say Maryland currently faces.
Need for speed: Executive order aims to reduce administrative hurdles to new housing
It’s not a new proposal. Lawmakers in 2022 required the state to develop a list of qualifying surplus land that could be used for affordable housing. But in the three years since that law passed, only one property ever qualified, according to a staffer from the Department of Housing and Community Development — the Guilford Avenue site.
The 2022 law prompted DHCD to work with other state agencies to identify qualifying state properties that could be used for housing. The original law said that the department “shall” deem a property qualified if it met five metrics: It was located in an area already targeted for economic development, was identified as surplus, had access to utilities, was large enough for residential use and had feasible entry and exit points.
The department was allowed to consider other factors, but those five points were requirements.
Lawmakers came back in 2024 and updated the law, to give DHCD more flexibility in the process, removing the “shall” language and letting state officials take more factors into consideration when determining whether any surplus properties qualify. That change led to the identification of 2100 Guilford Avenue as potentially suitable for housing.
“I think unfortunately there weren’t a ton of state properties that could actually be used for the development of affordable housing,” said Sen. Shelly Hettleman (D-Baltimore County), a sponsor of both the 2022 and 2024 bills in the Senate. “If we can do it in a way that is more coordinated and expeditious, I think that’s a win for everybody.”
Expeditious is what the Moore administration has in mind for the third try at the plan to turn over surplus property to developers for affordable housing projects, hoping that the third time’s the charm.
Under the executive order, the housing department will work with the Department of General Services to create a list of surplus properties that are state-owned and appropriate for new housing development. But among other measures, the order grants DHCD more decision-making power in identifying which surplus properties could be sold or donated to developers for affordable housing projects.
The building at 2100 Guilford opened 1928 as the State Motor Vehicle Commission, an earlier version of what is now known as the Motor Vehicle Administration. It later housed the Division of Parole and Probation, only to be shuttered in 2019.
In 2022, Former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) announced that the location would be redeveloped into a new headquarters for the Department of General Services, but the lot building currently sits empty.
On Dec. 31, 2024, Housing Secretary Jake Day said in a letter to legislative leadership that a “request for proposal is currently being drafted … for an excess state property (2100 Guilford Ave in Baltimore City) to be redeveloped as affordable housing, and that proposal will go to the Board of Public Works sometime in the near future.”
As of September, that proposal had not been presented the Board of Public Works, according to state documents.
But the slow pace so far has not daunted the Moore administration, which wants more state properties in the running. One of the biggest changes in the executive order is it gives the housing department more authority to evaluate state properties and create a list of land that could be used for housing on its own — and not have to wait for other agencies.
“The executive order’s intent is to review existing state-owned land more holistically to identify additional opportunities for surplus property that may be suitable for housing development,” according to an email from DHCD. “No State-owned properties have been deemed suitable for redevelopment as affordable housing until this year, so no reports have been released.”
It’s not clear how much more state land would qualify for affordable housing projects under the executive order. Housing officials say they will get a better idea down the line, noting that a report on state-owned properties suitable for redevelopment as affordable housing will be released in December.
Del. Julie Palakovich Carr (D-Montgomery), who sponsored the 2022 and 2024 legislation in the House, says that the executive order is a step in the right direction.
“I am really encouraged that Governor Moore and his administration are continuing to fight for housing,” Palakovich Carr (D-Montgomery) said. “It’s a huge issue in Maryland that’s affecting Marylanders across the state at all income levels. We need more housing, and this is a really great step in towards meeting those needs.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
