10400 Detrick Avenue
Kensington, MD 20895
(240) 773-9000 (Phone)
(301) 949-4690 (Fax)
(301) 949-5326 (TTY)
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10400 Detrick Avenue |
HOC tenants-turned-owners could save county moneyLetter to the EditorGazette Newspapers December 5, 2007 I know a quick way to move 4,403 poorer county residents into the middle-class while saving taxes: Turn ownership over to tenants in that number of housing units owned by the Housing Opportunities Commission. It would be cheaper than what it costs each year to fund HOC for those units. (HOC, in addition to these owned units, administers 8,535 other units, with a total budget of about $184 million.) Tenants-turned-owners could decide how they want to own the units (condominium, co-op or something else). There are many qualified non-profit and other organizations to advise them. At least County Councilman Marc Elrich (D-at large) of Takoma Park should embrace this idea. Writing in the Aug. 27, 1986, edition of The Montgomery Journal in connection with a county government loan to renovate the independently owned rental Edinburgh House in Takoma Park, Mr. Elrich wrote: ‘‘...I would contend that the county’s approach is paternalistic, fosters dependency in the tenants it aims to help, and primarily rewards and subsidizes owners of rental property while increasing the long-term costs for all of our citizens.” Does this not hold equally true for HOC? He went on to say: ‘‘The most effective housing policy would be the one that promoted home ownership, in all its possible forms, and that minimized the long-term tax costs to our citizens.” I could not agree more. Gerald Schneider, Kensington |
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©2007 Housing Opportunities Commission, All Rights Reserved. Information current as of 4/21/2008. |
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