Maryland’s shortfall in affordable housing is well documented. One statewide study concluded that for every 100 extremely low-income Maryland households, there are only about 33 housing units available. The crisis isn’t isolated to Maryland or the Mid-Atlantic. Nationally, the United States faces a similar deficit affecting millions of families, a disproportionate number of them Black and Latino households.

Government efforts to help alleviate the problem have run the gamut from direct subsidies to builders and renters, to creating land-use policies that encourage multifamily housing and investment. Yet the shortage continues and could yet worsen as inflation drives up construction costs and landlords look to profit from the lack of competition. Might there be a tool that can be added to the public sector arsenal to at least soften that blow?

In Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, a new-old policy is taking shape. Both have moved forward with rent stabilization ordinances to make sure that apartments that are affordable today don’t become unaffordable tomorrow. In Montgomery County, for example, a County Council committee has already approved a measure that bars rent increases to 6% annually (more specifically, to 3% plus whatever the yearly total of the consumer price index is, up to an additional 3%). In Prince George’s, County Executive Angela Alsobrooks in March signed into law a similar one-year moratorium.

Doing something about housing costs has become such a political issue that it may influence the race to fill the U.S. Senate seat now held by Ben Cardin: Alsobrooks is the leading contender among Democrats vying in 2024 and Montgomery County Councilmember Will Jawando, a sponsor of the rent cap in his county, is also running for the position.

Rent controls have long been controversial, of course. Most states outright ban them. Developers complain that they reduce the incentive to build. Yet a 6% cap seems more than generous and, as advocates in Montgomery County point out, it’s been something landlords have voluntarily lived with in Maryland’s largest county for decades. Only the recent uptick in inflation — and the possibility of double-digit rent increases — spurred the current actions.

Among the worries is how housing turnover caused by rent increases can cause lasting harm to neighborhoods. When large numbers of families are forced to move to find cheaper lodging — often at great distances — communities lose the “glue” that binds them together in the form of established relationships with neighbors, with business owners, with schools and law enforcement.

Could a similar approach help stabilize Baltimore-area neighborhoods? That is surely worth investigating. If Baltimore City and Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, and Howard counties and beyond are going to offer a wealth of incentives to expand affordable housing opportunities (and enrich landlords and developers in the process), it seems reasonable to also do more for their tenants. If politicians think July’s 4.3 cent per gallon increase in the gas tax was tough on working families, what would a budget-busting 10% increase in monthly rent mean? The answer: A whole lot more hardship.

Developers are bound to push back. They’ve been doing so in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, and they are among the most generous donors to political campaigns. And yet it’s telling that both Alsobrooks and Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich have come out in favor of rent stabilization proposals. It strongly suggests that such efforts are not just good policy but good politics — at least in two jurisdictions where Republican candidates are frequently not a factor in countywide elections. The same can’t be said in suburban Baltimore, where local races are generally more competitive. But that doesn’t make the issue any less worthy of serious consideration.