Council Considers Repealing Inclusionary Housing Sunset Clause

The fight over whether to repeal Baltimore’s Inclusionary Housing Law’s sunset clause resumes Wednesday.

A bill to remove the sunset clause from the law is scheduled to receive a hearing before the Baltimore City Council’s Land Use and Transportation Committee.  

The Inclusionary Housing Law was passed in 2007, and will lapse next year if the clause isn’t extended or repealed. City Council President Bernard C. “Jack” Young introduced the bill to repeal the sunset clause last September.

That bill met opposition from the city’s Planning and Housing departments as well as the Baltimore Development Work Group. They argued against removing the sunset clause from the legislation, but advocated extending it to 2020. At the time, officials from those agencies said the bill hadn’t been given enough time to be assessed. 

So far, the only development to be subject to the law is the mixed-use Union Mill development in Hampden. Seawall Development Company is building Union Mill. Donald Manekin, who owns Seawall with his son Thibault Manekin, testified in favor of repealing the sunset clause to the Planning Commission in January.  

The Inclusionary Housing Law requires any development in the city that has at least 30 housing units and is receiving public subsidies make 20 percent of the units affordable housing.