The Housing Opportunities Commission launches its strategic planning process (sponsored)

There’s a lot of buzz in Montgomery County about new affordable housing  being built by the Housing Opportunities Commission (HOC). To increase its successes in developing affordable, mixed-income, and mixed-use housing in the county, HOC has launched a comprehensive new strategic planning process, to gather input from the community on the needs of low- and moderate-income households. HOC is requesting feedback via either their strategic planning survey or town hall meetings. Everyone who lives, works, studies and/or recreates in Montgomery County is encouraged to participate!

TWO WAYS TO PARTICIPATE TAKE THE SURVEY! Go to hocmc.org to offer your input.
The first 100 HOC customers to respond to the survey will win a $10 gift card!
ATTEND A TOWN HALL! HOC invites you to a Town Hall discussion where you can ask questions and provide feedback into the housing, programs and services HOC should offer. To attend the virtual or in-person town hall please register at www.hocmc.org
○ Virtual Town Hall: July 17, 2023 |5-6:30 PM
○ In-person Town Hall: July 18, 2023 |6-7:30 PM

HOC’s outreach to the community is ambitious. The agency wants to hear from all its stakeholders – residents, customers, applicants, vendors, partners, and the general public – about the challenges and obstacles faced by low- and moderate income households in the county. Based on everyone’s feedback, HOC will create a five-year strategic plan that will guide its efforts to provide affordable housing opportunities and related services to low- and moderate-income households in Montgomery County.

HOC is the county’s largest provider of high-quality, amenity-rich, affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households. As Montgomery County, Maryland’s designated Public Housing Authority (PHA) and Housing Finance Agency (HFA), HOC serves approximately 17,500 renter households, owns more than 9,000 rental units and has provided mortgages to nearly 1,200 first-time homebuyers. HOC has also financed more than 4,000 affordable units for other developers and maintains a pipeline for expanding and redeveloping its own housing portfolio into the future.

This past spring HOC officially opened two new high-rise apartment communities – THE Leggett and the Laureate.

THE Leggett, in downtown Silver Spring, is a 267-unit mixed-income, multi-use and multi-generational community that sets a standard for modern, affordable housing for adults 62 years of age and better. The complex will include an integrated Holy Cross Hospital-affiliated wellness center and urgent care facility. Furthermore, this innovative complex will also house a 133,000 sq. ft. County-owned South County Regional Recreation and Aquatics Center, featuring a state-of-the-art recreational facility with basketball courts, a public Olympic size pool, a therapy pool, a spa, and a fitness center. Both programs are scheduled to open this summer.

The Laureate, a 268-unit, mixed income and mixed-use community at Shady Grove Metro Station, was made possible by a joint-venture partnership between HOC, Bozzuto and EYA – three heavily involved stakeholders of Montgomery County. It is the first new community produced by the Housing Production Fund (HPF) — a $100 million low-cost, revolving, construction-period financing that replaces the need for institutional private equity in HOC’s developments. The HPF is utilized in conjunction with additional HOC investment, private coinvestment, and conventional construction debt to finance construction and lease-up phases for new-construction projects.

While HOC’s affordable housing investment efforts are aggressive, the agency reports that more is required in order to meet the needs of 36,000+ low-income households on HOC’s waiting list.

This is why HOC has embarked on this ambitious strategic planning process. The agency needs the community’s feedback to ensure that the next five years of affordable housing development and associated services not only will meet the needs of low-income families, but will also more effectively be integrated into the county as a whole.

For more information visit their website at www.hocmc.org.