Renters' rights proponents push for new Howard County tenant and landlord affairs office

ELLICOTT CITY, Md. — Advocates are pushing for better renters’ protections in one of the most expensive areas to live in Maryland after conducting an extensive door-to-door survey

They’re asking for the incoming administration to establish a new office for tenant and landlord affairs.

“We asked renters: ‘What would it take for Howard County to be a better place to grow up?’ And among those answers we heard a resounding yes to a one-stop shop,” organizing director at Everyday Canvassing Tino Fragale said.

Advocates say renters have often been left out of the conversation. Howard County does conduct an annual rental survey, but one that relies mostly on data from landlords.

“I think we haven't always done a good job of listening to renters here. I think that we did not know the extent of the challenges that many of our renters face,” Kristina Gray-Akpa, senior program director at the Horizon Foundation, said. “I think part of the challenge was we just did not have the data. So now we know, and so I think now we can act.”

They want the new office to cover four areas: data collection, enforcement, accountability and education.

Organizations like the Columbia Housing Center have provided stopgaps to renters in need of assistance. But one that is too large to fill, executive director Carletta Hickman notes.

“Community organizations cannot fill it. This office can,” she said. “Other counties in Maryland are already doing it, and Howard County can do it too."

Montgomery County and DC are examples advocates are following.