Close

Not a member yet?Register now and get started.

lock and key

Sign in to your account.

Account Login

Issues & Victories

  • Affordable Housing

    PATH pushed legislation through Maryland’s General Assembly to protect mobile home owners—people living in some of the last affordable housing in Maryland. Mobile home owners own their homes but not the land under them, so when a park closes they could lose everything. Now, thanks to PATH, park owners must compensate residents with 10 months of lot rent—about $6000 in today's market. This law provides a safety net for over 14,000 of Maryland’s most vulnerable residents, allowing them to successfully relocate if they lose their homes.

In the News


As downtown Columbia develops, adjustments to affordable housing requirements recommended

Sunday, May 17, 2015
The Baltimore Sun

Downtown Columbia is on the move.

Merriweather Post Pavilion is getting a facelift; there's money in the budget for the first phase of the Inner Arbor park; and the Metropolitan, Columbia's newest apartment complex, is open to residents.

Still, a question remains: how does affordable housing fit into the plan?

So far, none of the 817 units approved – 380 at the Metropolitan and another 437 in an apartment building planned for next door – are slated to be moderately priced.

A recent report from the Columbia Downtown Housing Corporation, the organization tasked with ensuring that a full range of housing is built downtown, has recommended the County Council take a second look at the requirements for developing Columbia's city center.


READY Wins a "BUBBA" Award!

Thursday, May 7, 2015
chesapeakestormwater.net

At the Deering Woods neighborhood, a project was installed involving a series of conservation landscapes, three rain gardens and interconnecting rock channels. The garden treats approximately 25 townhome units with a total drainage area of approximately 1.84 acres that is 27.5% impervious. The total labor and material costs to install this garden was ~$9,700, or $387 per unit. The garden was installed by the Restoring the Environment and Developing Youth (READY) program, which is a Howard County funded program that employs young adults, aged 16-26, to build rain gardens and assist with additional BMP implementation throughout the County. This project is unique since it was implemented at a multi-family residential property. While these properties house numerous residents in the Bay Watershed, they are often overlooked for retrofit due to challenges with property ownership. In addition to providing stormwater management, this project creates a functional human space through the use of rock channels and stepping stones within the practice. Further, there is a large educational aspect of this project, extending not only to the residents, but also the young adults involved in the READY program.


Howard Co. executive candidates address affordable housing at PATH event

Wednesday, October 22, 2014
The Baltimore Sun

Kim Graham and her husband want to live in Howard County -- it's where the couple work, it's where they grew up, it's where their friends are, it's where they go to church.

But the recently married couple, in their late-20s, reside outside the county, and not really by choice. Both teachers in the county, they can't afford to live in the richest county in the state on their modest salaries.

"Howard County is our home," Graham said. "To our dismay, we found that buying a house in Howard County is but a dream."


Candidates talk jobs, not jabs, at forum

Friday, May 23, 2014
Baltimore Sun

Why can't the big televised debates be run this way?

"We want your responses to these questions, not your critiques of each other," the Rev. Nancy Ladd warned the three gubernatorial hopefuls seated in the front pew of a packed St. Matthew Catholic Church.

The Maryland Industrial Areas Foundation promoted its May 14 candidates forum in Baltimore as being geared toward "jobs, not jabs." For the most part, the umbrella organization — which includes People Acting Together in Howard, or PATH — succeeded in keeping Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, Attorney General Doug Gansler and Del. Heather Mizeur talking about their own plans for improving the state's employment picture, stemming gun violence, fomenting affordable housing and boosting funding for after-school programs.


IAF activists to Md. gov. candidates: We want a public relationship, not a ‘booty call’

Thursday, May 15, 2014
The Washington Post

The Baltimore pastor explained it like this: Being courted by a politician can sometimes feel like a one-night stand for community activists. In the heat of the moment, there is intense devotion and endless promises. But what happens the next morning?

“We’re not asking you to marry us. This is no request for death-do-us part relationship,” said Bishop Douglas Miles of Koinonia Baptist Church, addressing three Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls during a forum in Baltimore on Wednesday night. “But, understand, neither will we be treated as, like the young people say, as a booty call.”


Legislation gives mobile-home owners protection if land is sold

Thursday, June 10, 2010
The Washington Post

For years, Amy Lamke's answer to her affordable housing dilemma was bouncing with her daughter, Katlin, from one place to another, sharing space with strangers whom she met through classified ads.

But when she discovered Deep Run, a community of mobile homes tucked away off a two-lane road near Route 1 in Elkridge, in Howard County, Lamke figured she had found the stability she and her daughter had longed for.