Prince George’s County Council votes in favor of rent stabilization bill

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. ( DC News Now ) – On Tuesday, county council members for Prince George’s County voted in favor of a new rent stabilization bill. The bill was first brought up in June, but the council needed more discussion after a disagreement.

The bill will cap yearly rent increases at 6% for buildings made before the year 2000. Senior housing centers will also be capped at a maximum of 4.5%, and it will stop landlords from adding new fees and amenities during a lease.

As the county council went through the docket, people wearing red “CASA” shirts filled the room. The nonprofit has been fighting for a bill like this for years.

CASA, which has worked closely with Councilmember Krystal Oriadha through the process, said that the main problem it wants to solve is unfair rent increases, especially for elderly residents.

“They really rallied. They said, ‘We will not tolerate a bill that centers the industry, we are going to force you to create a better version,'” said Oriadha.

Everyone in CASA agreed that this new bill is a huge win, but they also know that the job is far from done.

“I’m working on a price-gouging bill to protect everyone that’s left out of this current legislation,” Oriadha said. “This is a victory, but we still have so much more to do.”

CASA members agreed, stating that the bill is not perfect but is a step in the right direction.

Others in the community were unhappy after the bill passed. The organization AOBA released a statement calling the bill “aggressive” and said that it will cause harm to the community.

The passage of rent stabilization ensures that Prince George’s County’s housing market will be further decimated, leading to anemic rental housing development and accelerated deterioration of its existing apartment communities.

Over the past one and a half years, the temporary rent cap completely wiped out the housing pipeline in the County, manifesting in a $50 million reduction in badly needed transfer and recordation tax revenue in FY24 and the loss of critical construction and trades jobs. Only 3 multifamily projects began construction in the County in 2023, none of which were conventionally financed without County assistance.

At the same time, operating expenses for multifamily buildings have skyrocketed, while the temporary rent cap has made financing or refinancing loan agreements with banks, which is difficult on its own in today’s high interest rate environment, even more challenging. 58 percent of the County’s rental housing was built before 1980, meaning some of these developments are over 44 years old. Controlling these older buildings will accelerate their decline in quality and severely limit their ability to be redeveloped.

By refusing to go after bad actors through regulatory action and instead choosing to impose burdensome legislative requirements on the entire industry, the Council has sentenced the County to a slow and painful economic decline that will leave residents with fewer housing options, lower quality housing, and substantially reduced funding for County services.

Statement from Brian Anleu, AOBA Vice President of Government Affairs

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