![[photo, 100 Community Place, Crownsville, Maryland]](/msa/mdmanual/17dhcd/images/1198-1-1315.jpg)
State Agencies. The primary housing authority for the State is the Department of Housing and Community Development. The Department works to ensure available housing at all income levels, and encourage strong neighborhoods and viable communities. The Department funds or insures loans for purchase and construction of housing for low-income families; helps low- and moderate-income families buy or rehabilitate houses; and aids nonprofit organizations with grants or loans to house the elderly, developmentally disabled, and homeless.
100 Community Place, Crownsville, Maryland, February 2006. Photo by Diane F. Evartt.
The Maryland Building Rehabilitation Code Advisory Council within the Department of Housing and Community Development advises the Department on the development, adoption, and revisions to the Maryland Building Rehabilitation Code. Technical advice on the interpretation of the Code is provided by the Council to property owners, design professionals, contractors, local officials, and local code appeal boards. Also assisting the Department, the Housing Finance Review Committee reviews specific loan requests or categories of loan requests, and the investment and project financing policies of the Division of Development Finance.
In addition, the General Assembly addresses concerns about housing through the Senate Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee, the Senate Finance Committee, and the House Environmental Matters Committee.
Local Agencies. Most county governments, and a number of municipal governments, maintain a division to regulate and assist in housing concerns and needs. These local housing agencies address local housing issues, serve as intermediaries for federal and State subsidy programs, and maintain and regulate county and local facilities and programs.
Housing agency programs may include rental assistance for low-income families, forclosure prevention, transitional home options, livability code enforcement, as well as programs for first-time home buyers. In some counties, local housing authorities administer public housing.
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