When Baltimore’s inclusionary housing law was passed in December, nearly two years after the legislation was first introduced, the vote was celebrated as the culmination of a long and arduous process.

That moment, however, was more like the start.

Today, almost nine months after the legislation was signed into law by Mayor Brandon Scott, the city’s inclusionary housing program, which requires developers building market-rate apartments to set aside units for low-income tenants, has yet to be fully realized. While the legislation took effect in July, Baltimore officials have not yet completed the regulations necessary to govern the program, rolled out the tax credit to help fuel it or appointed the full board that will oversee the developers building the units.

That pace has housing advocates who campaigned for the bill feeling despondent.

“Justice delayed is justice denied, as I see it,” said Claudia Wilson Randall, executive director of Community Development Network of Maryland, who has been working with a coalition dedicated to providing feedback on the legislation.

“It’s moving incredibly slow,” said Tisha Guthrie, a member of the same coalition. “A lot of us think it’s being slow walked.”

City housing officials said, however, there has been “no delay” in the implementation of inclusionary housing. They pointed to the law becoming effective in July and argued the draft regulations were published “on the first possible date” after it took effect. Spokespeople with the Department of Housing and Community Development as well as the mayor’s office declined to say, however, when the city hopes to have the policy ready for action.

Councilwoman Odette Ramos, the bill’s sponsor, is also eager for the law to be implemented. The Democrat who represents north central Baltimore has called for a hearing next month to probe city officials about the status. Ramos acknowledged that the legislation is complicated, but said certain pieces, like appointing all of the members to sit on the inclusionary housing board, are significantly easier than others.

“Nobody has come to me saying we need to change the law in any way,” Ramos said, “but we want to make sure the work is getting done.”

Hopes for the new legislation are high, particularly in light of the city’s failed past effort to require the development of affordable housing. Passed in 2007 and effective through mid-2022, Baltimore’s previous law resulted in the creation of just 34 new affordable housing units. The law allowed developers to avoid the requirement via numerous waivers that a board overseeing the program routinely granted.

Eager to avoid mistakes of the past, city leaders and housing advocates spent years developing the new law over a series of public hearings and countless private discussions. The final program, passed with the support of Scott despite objections from city finance staffers who report to him, calls for developers to set aside 10% of all units as affordable. Of that 10%, half would be reserved for those making 60% of area median income — roughly $67,000 annually for a family of four. The other half would go to those making 50% of area median income — about $60,850 for a family of four.

To make the requirement more manageable for developers, the City Council approved an accompanying High Performance Inclusionary Housing Tax Credit last year. The 30-year credit, available to property owners, will be equal to the difference between the rent paid by an inclusionary housing unit and the market-rate rent, offsetting the cost.

Overseeing the program will be a new 10-member inclusionary housing board, slated to include several city directors as well as four members nominated by the mayor and three members nominated by the council president, currently Nick Mosby. So far, just two members nominated by Scott have been confirmed by the City Council. Scott nominated one more last week.

The city is months behind on the board appointments, Ramos said.

The legislation calls for the board to be appointed 90 days after the bill was signed, a deadline that passed April 22. Both housing advocates and developers submitted names of potential appointees.

Guthrie said she believes the appointments have been intentionally slow to avoid pressure from seated board members.

“I think they know once they seat the board, we’re going to hold their feet to the fire,” she said.

More labor-intensive preparations have gone into creating the regulations that will be written into Baltimore code to govern the program. City law requires draft language to be published and then subject to a 30-day public comment period.

Tammy Hawley, spokeswoman for the Department of Housing and Community Development, said the public comment period for the proposed inclusionary housing regulations began Aug. 15, the first available date after the legislation became effective. Comments were due to the city by Sept. 15, she said, and are currently being reviewed by staff.

Separate regulations for the tax credit will be written by the city’s Finance Department, Hawley said. A spokeswoman for finance did not respond to questions about the timeline for that process.

Weighing in on proposed regulations are members of the inclusionary housing coalition. Wilson Randall said she has grown cynical as the process has progressed. Officials seem to lack a sense of urgency, she said, and there’s been a lot of deference to the development community.

“The city is centering interests around developers. What will make this work for developers?” she said.

In the eyes of housing advocates like her, the proposed regulations require too little from developers.

“We get this kind of lecture, ‘Well, you don’t understand how difficult affordable housing development is,’” Wilson Randall said. “We’ve got seasoned people with development experience on our negotiating team. You’re talking down to the advocates in my view.”

Doug Schmidt, principal of Workshop Development who has worked with the coalition, said he’s had the opposite experience working with the city. The implementation of the new law seemed, in Schmidt’s estimation, to be “moving along fine.”

Schmidt said Baltimore is a challenging place for market-rate development because there are finite areas of the city with an economy robust enough to support it. It’s particularly important for the city to get the inclusionary housing policy right, he said.

“Let’s not make this so cumbersome that we drive people (developers) away,” he said.

“I think where there might be folks that have an expectation that all of a sudden inclusionary units will be created tomorrow, it’s a little unrealistic,” Schmidt said. “The development process takes a really long time.”

The slow pace of development may prove helpful for Baltimore. City officials and developers said it’s unlikely many market-rate development plans will come online before the regulations are worked out. Higher interest rates have slowed development considerably, they said.

Hawley said pieces of the law are in place even though the regulations are not yet complete. Proposed projects meeting the conditions of the law already are required to submit an inclusionary housing plan when they apply for a building permit. The city has updated its building permit application, and staff have been reviewing lists of permit applicants to look for eligible projects, she said.

Still, Guthrie said, it is important for the city to have full regulations in place.

“Passing laws and things like that are the first step,” she said. “But implementing and enacting, and making sure not only the general population knows but also these property owners and landlords know that people are watching them, and that they need to adhere.”