Maryland's 90-day General Assembly session started Wednesday, with Gov. Wes Moore's administration and some lawmakers putting the state's housing shortage at the top of the agenda.

Moore is planning to push three pieces of legislation intended to spur affordable housing development in the state by curtailing local governments' ability to withhold building permits and offering development incentives. Legislators are also pushing bills to expedite the local review process for housing projects and provide loans to local housing authorities.

In a nine-page memo reported by the Baltimore Banner, the Moore administration plans to address an estimated 90,000-unit affordable housing shortfall in Maryland by pushing lawmakers to pass the Housing Expansion and Affordability Act of 2024, the Housing and Community Development Financing Act of 2024 and the Renters Rights and Housing Stabilization Act of 2024.

The Housing Expansion and Affordability Act would offer density bonuses to projects offering affordable units that meet criteria such as proximity to passenger rail stations. That same bill would also restrict local governments' ability to deny building permits based on an adequate public facilities ordinance that jurisdictions often use to control new development, the Banner reports.

Additionally, the Moore administration's Housing and Community Development Financing Act of 2024 proposes the creation of a Maryland Community Investment Corp., funded through the Federal New Market Tax Credit Program, to finance investments and loans in community development projects.

Moore's office didn't respond to Bisnow's request for comment on the efforts, and the Maryland General Assembly hasn't posted text of the administration's bills online.

Moore and Jake Day, Maryland's secretary of housing and community development, penned a joint op-ed in the Capital Gazette Tuesday previewing the administration's housing agenda for the new legislative session.

"We must address the housing crisis at its source: Withering supply," the op-ed said. "Since the 2008 Great Recession, our state has not built new homes at an adequate pace to keep up with demand. The result is a staggering housing shortage of approximately 96,000 housing units — and counting."

Maryland lawmakers have also submitted bills to boost the number of affordable housing units built in the state.

Del. Vaughn Stewart, a Democrat from Montgomery County, introduced a bill to expedite local development review processes for affordable housing projects.

The legislation, designated House Bill 3, requires state jurisdictions to establish an expedited review process for projects where at least 50% of the proposed units are available to residents making a maximum of 80% of the area median income. Under the bill, local governments must also prioritize applications for planning review and zoning changes required for affordable housing projects.

Vaughn has also proposed the Housing Innovation Pilot Program Act of 2024, which allows the Department of Housing and Community Development to provide loans to local housing authorities to develop mixed-income projects.

This legislation also aims to create the Housing Innovation Fund, which requires local housing authorities to provide dollar-for-dollar matches for projects in that program. Vaughn's bill also requires the state to prioritize projects that forgo  Low Income Housing Tax Credits or tax-exempt volume caps.