Housing

SB 267, the "Building Affordably in My Back Yard Act," aims to increase residential housing development by changing oversight, regulation, and tax policies. It requires property owners to certify contact information to the housing department, empowers local governments to streamline approvals for housing projects, and sets housing production targets. The bill allows counties to reduce certain taxes or fees for affordable housing projects while increasing them for non-affordable developments, and permits local tax adjustments for different property types. These changes directly affect property owners, local governments, and housing developers across Maryland.

SB 455 establishes the Transformational Project Financing Program to help local governments fund large-scale development projects in designated areas. It allows counties or cities to apply to the Maryland Economic Development Corporation for "State-supported development district" status, requiring them to redirect property tax increases (tax increment) from these areas into a special fund instead of the general budget. This fund finances projects in priority areas like sustainable communities, transit-oriented developments, and designated enterprise zones. The bill creates new rules for calculating state revenue contributions and managing bond proceeds specifically for these designated districts.