ROCKVILLE, MD - Local municipal employees, including those who work for the county school system, now have more affordable housing options near their workplaces. Rockville, Montgomery County and Maryland officials on Wednesday opened the doors to the first of more than four dozen condominiums in Rockville's King Farm community that will be available as part of a new work-force housing initiative. The condominiums will be offered to employees of Rockville and Montgomery County.
At least one Rockville employee who attended the ribbon-cutting event said the condominiums are a "perfect fit" for her and her son. "Something like this is so perfect for small families," said Rocio Estrada, a Rockville neighborhood resources coordinator. Estrada said she is living with family members in Rockville and has been searching for a home of her own, but does not qualify for affordable housing. She said that apartments are "overpriced."
"The neighborhood is perfect; it's in the middle of everything, it's safe, it's beautiful and I don't have to worry about cutting the grass," Estrada said. The new program is designed to make housing available to those whose salaries are too high to qualify for the county's moderately priced dwelling units (MPDUs) and too low to afford market-rate housing. "We need to do a better job to retain our work force in Montgomery County," County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said. "This is another step in the right direction."
The county's Department of Housing and Community Affairs and Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC) purchased the 49 apartments, to be converted into condominiums for sale, in March from Regency Centers, which owns and operates the commercial portion of The Village Center in King Farm. The two-level units are located in three buildings above retail, restaurants and offices on Pleasant Drive.
Fourteen apartments are still being rented, said Chris Swann, president of the King Farm Citizens Assembly. He said the renters will be given the option to move to the 800 or so rental units within King Farm when their leases end. Swann said the condominiums will be converted and released about six or seven at a time. The work-force housing program targets those who make between 70 percent and 120 percent of the area median income for a family of four, which was $99,000 in 2007, according to Sally Roman, HOC commissioner.
The two- and three-bedroom condominiums will boast new hardwood floors, a fresh coat of paint, granite countertops and new appliances. About $40,000 to $60,000 of upgrades will be put into each unit, according to Brett West, spokesman for The Village at King Farm. Right before the official ribbon-cutting, elected officials expressed the need for work-force housing to allow many city and county public servants, such as policemen, firefighters and teachers, to live in the communities they serve.
"The school system is Montgomery's largest work force," county schools superintendent Jerry D. Weast said. "We are also the largest work force that drives." Weast said about 5,000 school employees drive to work and many live outside Montgomery County. Many take a bus that runs from West Virginia to Montgomery County every morning, he said.
Source: Gazette.net