College Park faces a shortage of 1,265 affordable units for its lowest-income renters, a situation the city’s Affordable Housing Task Force has labeled a “crisis-level policy issue” that disproportionately affects essential workers, seniors and families with children.
The task force, which the College Park City Council appointed in April 2025, offered a sweeping menu of recommendations, ranging from legislative bans on hidden apartment fees to long-term strategies like helping residents buy houses on land owned by the College Park Community Preservation Trust to keep the price of first homes lower.
And members warned that small, incremental changes would not be enough to bridge the housing affordability gap.
“Half-measures and anemic action may exacerbate housing affordability challenges,” according to the report.
“Affordability may be the No. 1 issue in the country, and housing is No. 1 of that No. 1,” City Councilmember Ray Ranker (District 3) said at a March 10 council worksession.
His interpretation of the report, he said, is: “Go big or don’t do anything. … I think that’s wise advice.”
The council charged the task force with evaluating the city’s existing housing stock, identifying barriers to affordability, analyzing city and county housing programs, and recommending strategies and priorities.
“We need to build more housing, that’s true,” task force Chair Jonathan Riedel told the council.
But he noted that supply is “only one leg of the three-legged stool” of affordability, which also includes stability and subsidy. “Don’t ignore those two legs of this stool.”
The task force recommended that the city diversify its housing stock after finding that 51% of units across College Park are in multifamily buildings with more than five apartments. The second most prominent housing type is single-family homes.
The group cited data showing that despite a 78% increase in housing units since 2000, affordability has worsened. Home values rose 72% between 2000 and 2023, while inflation-adjusted median household incomes decreased.
A recurring theme at the meeting was the need for stricter enforcement of existing laws.
Councilmember Kelly Jordan (District 2) noted that failing to enforce rental licensing requirements amounts to an indirect subsidy for noncompliant landlords.
“When we don’t enforce our rental licenses … it’s an effective subsidy” she said. “They don’t have to go through licensing, inspection fees.”
Councilmember Denise Mitchell (District 4) said those laws may need strengthening.
“If we don’t have policies for enforcement, rental stabilization, [and affordable dwelling units], it’s not going to do us any good as a body,” she said.
The task force’s other recommendations included strategies to stabilize rent, particularly for newer buildings that are exempt from a county rent cap—and that is most of those in the city—encouraging accessory dwelling units, which are small residences built on the property of an existing home, and a ban on the use of rent-setting software that can artificially inflate prices.
In addition, the report points to rent subsidies, emergency financial assistance for those facing sudden income loss, and aging-in-place initiatives to help long-term senior residents remain in their homes.
Mayor Fazlul Kabir said the presentation is a starting point.
“We may need to have multiple worksessions in the future,” he said. “Tonight is not the last opportunity to discuss this report.”