The Anne Arundel County Council recently introduced an updated version of a bill that would require developers to allocate a portion of new units for moderate-income residents.

The legislation, known as the Housing Attainability Act, was introduced Sept. 3 by council members Allison Pickard, Julie Hummer, Lisa Rodvien and Pete Smith, all Democrats, at the request of County Executive Steuart Pittman. The bill would mandate new housing developments with 20 or more units to designate 10% of for-sale units and 15% of rental units to be affordable.

Eligibility for the moderately priced units would be based on household income. Renters must earn 75% or less of the area median income for their household size and homebuyers must make 100% or less than the median income.

For a single person, 75% of the area median income is $64,172 and 100% is $85,563, according to the bill’s fact sheet.

Residents seeking to rent or buy an affordable unit in a new development would also need to prove that one adult household member is a county resident or has worked in the county for at least six months before applying.

In some situations, developments with 10 to 19 units could make a contribution to the Housing Trust Special Revenue Fund, the revenue from which goes toward providing affordable housing for low- to moderate-income county and Annapolis residents, instead of setting aside affordable units. Housing developments with nine or fewer units do not have to offer affordable units.

The revamped legislation would also add more diverse housing types in some residential areas, such as triplexes, fourplexes and stacked town houses, to the county’s zoning ordinance. This would allow land to be used more efficiently and create now-missing housing options for different demographics, like young professionals or empty nesters, said Pickard, a Glen Burnie Democrat.

“We need to be producing housing across the continuum of price point, style and type to address the housing needs of the county,” she said. “The code has to change and shift and groove so that the kind of housing the market is so hungry for can actually be built.”

The bill wouldn’t change the character of future housing developments, Pittman said in an interview Thursday, but it would require them to be more creative.

“I want people to understand that this is simply asking for those who build the housing in our county, the private sector, to diversify what they’re building and diversify down the income scale a little bit so that our essential workers can live here,” he said.

The county’s efforts to find solutions for affordable and attainable housing are not new, dating back at least 20 years.

Last year, the council introduced a similar version of the current legislation, which failed to pass. Pickard was one of four council members who voted against the bill in December. At the time, she said she felt the bill fell short and didn’t amend parts of the code that let parcels reach their maximum allowable density.

The bill’s failure was a blow to Pittman, who has aimed to pass legislation addressing housing attainability since taking office in 2018.

Pittman recalled his efforts last year to negotiate with homebuilders to support the legislation, which also stalled out with developers, who wanted something more to benefit them, he said. After the bill failed, Pittman told developers that other pending legislation that could open doors to more housing production would be on hold until attainable housing was addressed.

Still, the pending legislation is only a “small drop in the bucket” in dealing with the county’s housing issue, said Linda Hanifin Bonner, Anne Arundel Connecting Together’s attainable housing chair.

“We’re really dealing with a cultural change here in Anne Arundel County because for years, the prevailing sentiment has been single-family houses on a single-family lot, and Anne Arundel County is behind the curve in many instances in making changes to accommodate affordable housing in the county,” she said.

While many of the tenets of the new bill are similar to what was proposed and failed last year, the revised version addresses the lack of supply, Pickard said.

“I’m really proud of the bill,” Pickard said of the new legislation. “It’s probably not perfect, but it does reimagine how this county will build housing.”

Additional changes outlined in the bill include adjustments to bulk requirements to allow more flexibility in site design, as well as a tiered system to provide a density bonus for developments that build affordable housing units, allowing additional units to be developed.

A public hearing on the bill will be held at the council’s Oct. 7 meeting.