Fixing the Supply Gap: Smart Housing Growth in Maryland

Wes Moore signs executive order to speed up permitting process, award locales that prioritize housing.  

The order tasks an agency to help create housing production targets for the state, counties and municipalities. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

In our latest Market Update, we highlighted what we believe is the only real imbalance in today’s housing market: supply. Demand in Maryland remains steady, but the lack of available homes is what continues to drive affordability challenges.

That’s why I was encouraged to see Governor Wes Moore sign a new executive order aimed at accelerating affordable housing development across the state. The policy called Housing Starts Here is designed to speed up permitting, put state-owned land to productive use, and incentivize local governments that actively create room for more housing.

Why this matters

It addresses the real imbalance. Adding supply is the only sustainable way to restore balance between buyers, renters, and the homes available to them.

It focuses on speed. Faster permitting and streamlined approvals mean projects can move from concept to completion in a fraction of the time helping affordability sooner.

It emphasizes smart growth. Prioritizing transit-oriented sites and rewarding pro-housing jurisdictions ensures new development strengthens communities rather than overwhelming them.

What to watch

This order won’t solve the housing shortage overnight, and implementation will matter just as much as the announcement. But it’s a strong step in the right direction. If the state follows through, Maryland could become a model for how to grow supply in a way that is both useful and sustainable.

At Vidona Residential, we’ll continue tracking how these policies affect buyers, sellers, and investors locally and sharing what it means for your real estate decisions.

Maryland governor moves to increase affordable housing development in state.

By Jonathan Lehrfeld, CoStar News, September 8, 2025 | 6:07 P.M.

Maryland's state government is seeking to increase housing production and make homes more affordable by cutting red tape and rewarding local jurisdictions that lean into residential development.

Gov. Wes Moore last week signed an executive order to reduce permitting timelines and create more homes sooner.

The move aims to accelerate the process of bringing new units to market and help address a 96,000-unit housing shortage across the state while also driving down costs, according to a release from the governor's office. More than half of renters in Maryland, 53%, are cost-burdened or paying more than 30% of their income to keep a roof over their heads, a state official said at the signing event.

"This executive order can be wrapped up in one word: speed," Moore said at the ceremony, according to a report from WMAR-2 News. "We need to move faster to build new homes. We need to move faster to make homes more affordable and protect our renters."

The executive order instructs Maryland's government to kick-start a process to hire third-party reviewers who can aid in expediting housing development project permits.

It also directs state agencies to identify specific state-owned properties for possible transit-oriented development and new housing; creates an ombudsman position to facilitate a faster permitting process; and appoints an agency to help create housing production targets for the state, counties and each municipality with a planning or zoning authority. Those targets are expected to be published in January and updated every five years.

The order also establishes leadership awards to recognize those making progress on housing development goals. Moore said jurisdictions that receive one will be more competitive when applying for programs through the Department of Housing and Community Development.

A statewide impact

Multiple affordable housing projects are underway in the state.

The nonprofit group Enterprise Community Development held ceremonial groundbreakings in July for Legacy at Cedar Lane I/II and the Vision at Parkway, both in Columbia, Maryland. Those redevelopments are expected to replace 1960s-era buildings with more than 200 units of mixed-income housing. One-third of those units would be reserved for low-income residents, a third would be for workforce housing and another third would be offered at market rate.

The projects represent the second and third phases of a multiphase redevelopment to replace 300 aging apartments across a 1-mile area of Columbia with about 600 new residences. The first phase — the 153-unit Legacy at Twin Rivers — was completed last year.

"This success is going to be felt for generations to come, it is going to be felt all over the state. It's going to be felt by the educator in Frederick who can afford to buy a home in the same neighborhood that they teach in," Moore said at the ceremony. "This is going to be felt by the police officer in the Eastern Shore who can finally work now to make a family budget work. This is going to be felt by the senior in Columbia who will now have a little extra money, and a little extra cushion, inside of their bank account."

The move builds off a legislative housing package adopted last year that Moore said made housing more affordable and accessible for Marylanders by removing barriers to housing construction, strengthening state financing tools for housing construction and community development investments and creating an office to better protect renters. It follows the governor's July announcement of $50 million in grant awards to support vacant property reduction efforts in Baltimore.

In one example of action taken to increase development, the Montgomery County Council approved a zoning measure this summer to allow more residential building types along designated corridors.

You can read the full coverage from CoStar here: Maryland Governor Moves to Increase Affordable Housing Development in State