On April 30^th Ballard Spahr was proud to host representatives from the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the Maryland Attorney General’s office, Pennrose Properties and AGM Financial to discuss evolving trends in affordable housing development in Maryland. The briefing, held in Ballard Spahr’s Baltimore office, included:

• A discussion by Pat Sylvester, the Director of DHCD’s Multifamily Programs, Ivy Dench-Carter of Pennrose Properties, Margaret Allen of AGM Financial and Ballard Spahr’s Amy McClain on the 2013 revisions to the QAP’s impact on the fall funding round, the success of Maryland’s Rental Housing Works program and the implementation of the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) Program.
• A presentation by Anne Marculewicz from the Maryland Attorney General’s office about the new Maryland “Multifamily Rental Housing Program Efficiency Act,” which eliminates the “local approval” requirement and consolidates several DHCD loan programs into one program —  called the Rental Housing Program — to provide construction and rehabilitation funding for both elderly and multifamily projects.  (A copy of the Act can be found here.)
• An update from Ballard Spahr attorneys Mary Grace Folwell and Scott Cockerham on federal legislation impacting affordable housing, including an update on federal appropriations, the so-called “Camp” proposal, the tax “extenders” bill and HUD’s “Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing” demonstration program in Baltimore (discussed here in our April 18, 2014 blog post).

Thanks to all the participants for making the briefing a success!