This is Part 1 of a two-part series on affordable housing in College Park. Part 2 will focus on the city’s efforts to address the problem and will be published in College Park Here & Now in October.
Nausicaä Sinclair, a 23-year-old born and raised in College Park’s Calvert Hills neighborhood, moved out of her hometown last year, she said, because of soaring rent prices.
“I would love to move back to College Park,” said Sinclair, who said she had hoped to move to an apartment near her parents’ home once she decided to live on her own but could not find one she could afford. “I see so much additional development, but unfortunately, I’ve not seen that translate to any sort of decrease in prices.”
Sinclair, who lives in Baltimore now, isn’t the only tenant who has faced housing challenges because of unaffordable rents in College Park. In fact, multiple city officials have said the city has a shortage of affordable housing.
The definition of “affordable” varies depending on the source, but the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) estimates that tenants and homeowners should pay no more than 30% of their gross income for housing.
In College Park, the median household income is roughly $74,867, according to 2023 Census estimates. By HUD standards, then, housing should cost no more than $1,870 per month for a household.
For students, household income is far less. Those who work part time make an average of $17 an hour, according to Glassdoor. One year after graduation, the median income for UMD grads is $56,509—nearly $20,000 higher than the national average, according to Niche, which uses data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Education and surveys.
Still, for that graduate, 30% of monthly income is $1,413 — less than the $1,892 average rent for a one-bedroom apartment in College Park, according to Apartments.com. Splitting the cost of a two-bedroom apartment, which averages $2,382 a month, would fall within the HUD guideline.
“To me, affordable housing is being able to go to work, come home, pay your bills, pay your rent, without stress,” said Michelle Johnson, executive director of the Housing Authority of the City of College Park. “Affordable housing is a human right.”
College Park City Councilmember Llatetra Brown Esters (District 2) took that further.
“I often talk about the diversity of our community. That’s diversity at every level,” said Esters, who noted that as a young professional working at UMD early in her career, she lived in District Heights because “I couldn’t necessarily afford to find a place here.”
She added: “No matter how much money you make, you should be able to come in this community and find housing, housing that is suitable and housing that is quality. … If I work at a restaurant, I should be able to find housing. If I’m an executive with the government, I should be able to find suitable housing that I can afford, suitable housing that does not break one’s bank. You shouldn’t be house poor.”
Johnson estimated that although College Park has between 300 and 400 affordable housing units, the city needs at least 1,000.
She suggested that developers of each new complex in the city be required to include some affordable units.
“No one’s asking them to build a complete complex of affordable housing,” Johnson said. “All we’re asking for is … five to 10 [affordable] units to be added to each luxury apartment complex.”
City Councilmember Susan Whitney (District 2) said most housing in College Park is market rate, meaning its price is based on supply and demand with no affordability restrictions. College Park’s current market rate for homes for sale is $449,972, up 2.3 percent from last year, according to Zillow. Over the past year, the median sale price of homes in the city hovered around $470,000, according to Redfin.
In many cases, Whitney said, housing costs surpass salaries. In others, investors purchase homes to rent out, limiting the number of homes for sale — which causes prices to go up.
In response to high rent prices, UMD students Gannon Sprinkle and Dhruvak Mirani started the College Park Tenants Union in early 2024.
“Tenants were not having their needs properly met, and there was an extreme disconnect between the lack of needs … being met and the prices that everyone in the College Park area are currently paying,” said Sprinkle, a senior government and politics major who ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the city council last spring.
The union, which represents College Park renters, worked to get the Permanent Rent Stabilization and Protection Act of 2024 passed at the county level, Sprinkle said. The act protects rents from hefty increases.
Sprinkle is also a member of the city’s Affordable Housing Task Force, which the council created in April to study the city’s housing market, affordability and what the city is doing to address it, according to Mayor Fazlul Kabir.