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Haley Lemieux

@haleylemieux.bsky.social
88 followers 75 following 46 posts

Policy director at Maryland Dept of Housing & Community Development 🦀🏡 / Montgomerian turned Anne Arundelian / Views strictly my own

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Reposted by Haley Lemieux
Dan Keshet @dankeshet.bsky.social · 22/06/2025
Today it's official! Governor Abbott has signed SB840, Texas' residential-in-commercial zoning bill. It is not too dramatic to say that this bill will reshape the physical and economic geography of all major cities in Texas. (Linked article for information: natlawreview.com/article/texa...)
natlawreview.com
Texas Multifamily Revolution: Governor Abbot Considers Texas Senate Bill That Could Transform Zoning for Mixed-Use Residential / Multifamily Developments
Introduction to Texas Senate Bill SB 840
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
(Paraphrased, bc audiobook. Enjoying this a lot, framing, historical context and analysis all great).
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
“Voice is not in & of itself a way to weigh tradeoffs. Progress involves ratifying tradeoffs that distribute burdens across communities, fair & unfair. Gov’t needs to be able to make decisions that impose costs & voice should not give any figure the ability to hijack process.”
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 13/04/2025
Getting to see the purple line progress at New Carrollton is my work commute treat
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
(2) I'm optimistic about the future. There's a lot of folks in Annapolis & across the state who understand the consequences of maintaining a status quo where 1 in 3 MD families struggle with their monthly housing payment. Lots of opportunities for progress! (/ End)
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Aaand finally, I was of course disappointed the Governor’s Housing for Jobs Act (HB 503) didn’t make it all the way through. I won't reflect too much here except to say that: (1) I'm very grateful to the tremendous effort from everyone involved to move a solution forward, and...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
local gov’ts can *only* do rent stabilization w/ vacancy control, tenant organizers face retaliation, and ~5K holding over evictions are filed annually. The bill included practical exemptions & I’m not aware of any evidence that good cause *individually* ↓ housing construction.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
I was also disappointed that good cause eviction (HB 709/SB 651) didn't advance AND to see a narrative that tenant protections broadly are in conflict with increasing housing supply. Good cause would have been an improvement over a status quo where...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Disappointing that MDOT’s HB80 didn’t cross the finish line. It’s hard to overstate how underutilized land around rail is in most of MD. More flexibility to build on state-owned land + limiting parking requirements around rail would have been a high-impact, low cost reform.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
And, finally important expansions for financing for affordable housing projects were passed: SB327/HB390 grants local gov’ts more flexibility to execute PILOTs and HB 1085 extends property tax exemption for PHA owned properties. Alright, now for the L's...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
I'm proud of DHCD's bill (HB 59) to prevent folks from losing their homes over very small amounts of property tax debt passed unanimously. 12K owner-occupied homes went to tax sale last year. HB 59 helps by capping redemption rate at 10% + withholding if less than $1K is owed.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
The ultimate impact of the bill will be filtered through the policy choices that local gov’ts make in adopting compliant ordinances, so that will be something to watch in the coming months. But: no matter what we’ll have more much needed homes in more neighborhoods statewide.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
First: The wins! Del. Stewart and Sen. Washington's legislation to allow ADUs statewide in Maryland passed. 2 items in the final bill I especially like: local gov'ts have to do a study to justify addtl parking requirements + explicitly prevents HOAs from restricting ADUs.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 09/04/2025
Alright, a (long) 🧵with some reflections on the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session’s impact on housing stability. TLDR: Important progress, with the status quo also proving tenacious. (As always, these are personal views only).
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
And a UMBC poll released last week that found 63% of Maryland voters rank the cost and availability of housing as a high priority: htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com/files/umbc-p...
htv-prod-media.s3.amazonaws.com
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
A Jan poll from the Washington Post that found housing was Maryland voters' top concern: www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/202...
washingtonpost.com
Poll: Md. Gov. Moore’s taxes on the wealthy and cannabis are popular
Maryland residents support Gov. Wes Moore’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, but they’re not enthusiastic about a 75-cent delivery fee.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
This validates other poll findings, including a February poll that found 42% of younger renters are considering leaving MD due to housing costs: www.thebaltimorebanner.com/politics-pow...
thebaltimorebanner.com
Poll: Maryland voters cite housing as top concern
Two polls in the last month found housing was the top concern.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
The article is worth reading in full. It confirms that most Marylanders think there are too few housing options and believe that more housing would improve their communities: ggwash.org/view/98610/2...
ggwash.org
Marylanders want more homes and fairer development rules
Marylanders say housing costs are a problem, they want the state government to do something about it, and they’re open to Governor Wes Moore’s proposal to boost homebuilding. That’s what we learned in...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 03/03/2025
Maryland polls conducted this winter have consistently emphasized that voters want solutions to the housing crisis. New polling today from @ggwash.org confirm support for solutions in @govwesmoore.bsky.social's Housing for Jobs Act - 79% agree gov't should stick to clear/objective criteria.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 14/02/2025
I'm not saying anything new here, but the mortgage interest rate deduction (1) is very regressive (benefits folks with the largest, most expensive homes the most); (2) has no actual demonstrated impact on homeownership for families; while (3) costing a LOT of $$. t.co/raMeEEBnM9
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 13/02/2025
It’s almost like agencies have to directly cite the congressional authority that allows them to promulgate regulations every time they do so 🙃
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 11/02/2025
“Our high affordability requirements only penciled at 6 stories and that was our baseline.” The people of Cambridge are lucky to have a city council that cares seriously about the impacts of housing costs - and are willing to act.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 01/02/2025
If only there were parking requirements to preserve the ultimate public good of people being able to park close to the mall!!
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Reposted by Haley Lemieux
Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 17/01/2025
HUD is withdrawing its proposed AFFH rule, literally 2 years after putting it forward for public comment. Rule would have required jurisdictions to develop equity plans to demonstrate fulfillment of the desegregatory policy of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Trump ppl have stated opposition to AFFH.
novoco.com
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
Proud to be part of the team that brought this competitive $ to Maryland to help address our state’s affordability crisis. The full grant proposal submission is available online: dhcd.maryland.gov/Documents/Pr...
dhcd.maryland.gov
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 15/01/2025
In very exciting news, Maryland was awarded $6.9M in funds from the HUD PRO Housing grant. This money will go directly towards supporting local gov’ts across the state to reduce barriers to housing production. It will also fund TA & a statewide convening on best practices.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Housing markets should have options for essential workers, early career professionals, young families, *and* folks who can’t participate in the labor force. Different interventions support different populations - and are often complementary, not in conflict.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
It is honestly hard to overstate how unattainable homeownership has become in Maryland. Even assuming a down payment of 20%, mortgage and property tax costs routinely exceed $3,000/month for a typical home. (Data Zillow ZHVI Aug 2024, 6.3% interest rate which is avg for MD)
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Allowing more diverse housing types is a great solution to provide more homeownership opportunities for more income ranges. In Montgomery County, sales prices vary significantly by home type (Redfin, Nov 2024): - $791K single family home - $500K townhouses - $270K condos/coops
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Reposted by Haley Lemieux
Joey Politano🏳️‍🌈 @josephpolitano.bsky.social · 31/12/2024
Spokane passed a bunch of housing reforms recently—eliminating parking minimums, increasing height maximums, reducing lot minimums, allowing more missing middle, & expanding property tax exemptions for new multifamily projects—and now they're building record amounts of housing
a graph of Spokane housing permitting over time, showing it spike in 2023/2024
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
Greedy Bastards by the former City of San Antonio City Manager Sheryl Sculley is an *amazing* read on city management generally, but also specifically on renegotiating fire & police union contracts.
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Reposted by Haley Lemieux
Patrick Siegman @siegman.biz · 11/12/2024
“If state legislators had to pick just one…the winner was clear: Fully flexible parking resulted in more new homes than legalizing granny flats & larger multifamily buildings near transit combined, even when every new building still included some amount of parking.” www.sightline.org/2024/12/10/p...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 19/12/2024
Great high-level overview of existing analyses on the impact of institutional investors purchasing single family homes (+ initial analysis of policy solution options): localhousingsolutions.org/lab/notes/la...
localhousingsolutions.org
Unpacking Investor Purchases of Single-Family Homes: What Does the Evidence Say? - Local Housing Solutions
As the country grapples with housing affordability and supply crises, housing advocates, policymakers, and researchers are examining trends in investor purchases of single-family homes. Large institut...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 18/12/2024
It’s totally possible that this varies by state, but in MD max rents are set based on 1.5 people/bedroom. So, a 2-bedroom 60% AMI unit rent would be set based on the max rent calculation for a 3-person 60% AMI household.
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Reposted by Haley Lemieux
Corey Husak @chusak.bsky.social · 11/12/2024
Worth reading this in the context of the Chicago budget debate. Besides the opportunity + segregation arguments, if Chicago had more widespread growth and development, the city would likely not be painfully debating $300 million in tax/fees and spending cuts www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Mercatus also did a 2024 state legislative action round up - www.mercatus.org/research/pol...
mercatus.org
Laying Foundations: Momentum Continues for Housing Supply Reforms in 2024
Last year, we reported on the accelerating pace of state-level housing supply reform, with major victories in four states and laws being enacted across the country. This year, state legislatures kept ...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 10/12/2024
Published last year, this turner center report is the most comprehensive I’m personally aware of (specific to preemption) ternercenter.berkeley.edu/research-and...
ternercenter.berkeley.edu
Incentivizing Housing Production: State Laws from Across the Country to Encourage or Require Municipal Action - Terner Center
Authors: Shazia Manji, Truman Braslaw, Chae Kim, Elizabeth Kneebone*, Carolina Reid | TERNER CENTER Yonah Freemark | URBAN INSTITUTE This paper from the Terner Center and Urban Institute presents new ...
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Reposted by Haley Lemieux
Chris Elmendorf @cselmendorf.bsky.social · 05/12/2024
Great essay on "spare bedrooms" as the link b/t market-rate housing prices and rates of homelessness across cities. worksinprogress.co/i...
worksinprogress.co
Why housing shortages cause homelessness - Works in Progress
Why do high-cost cities have more homelessness? It's not just about rents — it’s also about the rooms friends and family can’t afford to share.
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Reposted by Haley Lemieux
Riordan Frost @riordanfrost.bsky.social · 25/11/2024
Happy #MapMonday! (A former Twitter tradition that I'm happy to revive in this cheerier place). Here's a state map showing how much immigrants make up the construction trades workforce around the US, which is substantial in many high-demand states. Source: ACS 2023.
US map showing the immigrant share of the construction trades workforce by state. Shows lower shares in much of the northern part of the country and higher shares in the Sunbelt and high-demand states like New York, California, Texas, and Florida.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
A final aside, but, I’ve been thinking often of Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor’s article on the implementation of the HUD Act, and the potential parallels to a 2025 market-oriented HUD that isn’t paired with strong fair housing oversight. 🔗 www.dissentmagazine.org/article/how-...
dissentmagazine.org
How Real Estate Segregated America - Dissent Magazine
Real-estate interests have long wielded an outsized influence over national housing policy—to the detriment of African Americans.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
2. A rejection of federal fair housing enforcement 🔗 americafirstpolicy.com/assets/uploa... Turner wasn’t the author of these briefs & I don’t think strong inferences should be drawn from them. My main point is that the very limited info available necessarily ≠ hope.
americafirstpolicy.com
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
There’s very little from Turner on his views on housing. But, policy briefs from AFPI, where Turner is currently a center chair, affirm two of the most damaging ideas of 1.0: 1. A strong rejection of housing-first principles for homeless funding 🔗 agenda.americafirstpolicy.com/safer-commun...
agenda.americafirstpolicy.com
Address Homelessness and Mental Health Issues that are Plaguing Our Streets | The America First Agenda | America’s Future is America First!
An increasing number of individuals and communities are struggling with homelessness in America today. Approximately 580,000 homeless individuals are scattered across the Nation, according to a Depart...
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
In fact, the main product from the WH Council on Opportunity Zones Turner chaired references HUD sparingly - mostly to indicate that HUD programs could preference OZs for awards (which, presupposes that OZs are well targeted, but that’s an aside) 🔗 www.ncsha.org/wp-content/u...
ncsha.org
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
HUD also plays an essential role in fair housing enforcement. I’ve seen some early excitement about Turner’s past involvement on Opportunity Zones & as a multifamily developer - but the biggest rental housing finance tools are all run through the tax code / IRS.
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 23/11/2024
Early thoughts on the Scott Turner HUD appointment are that my personal concerns on 2.0 are mostly reaffirmed. The vast majority of HUD’s work is providing long-term federal subsidy to house low-income people through rental assistance, public housing & homeless assistance. (1/)
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 21/11/2024
Local housing solutions’ policy library is my all time favorite first-stop resource. Library is well organized / easy to navigate + briefs are not too long but still reflect nuance& includes local examples. localhousingsolutions.org/housing-poli...
localhousingsolutions.org
Housing Policy Library Archive - Local Housing Solutions
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Biggest potential impacts discussed under previous R admin would be from: - Reducing the capital gains rate (impacts tax credit pricing) - Excluding housing private activity bonds from tax exemption - Changes to the CRA States shape *most* geo targeting for LIHTC - not aware of effort to change
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 19/11/2024
Was very excited to see Baltimore City expand local investment in housing. Uses won’t be finalized until FY26 & 27 budget adoption, but the current CIP forecasts the following: 🏗️ $13M Affordable Housing Trust Fund 🏠 $6M LIHTC gap financing 💵 $1M Perkins Somerset Choice neighborhood match
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 18/11/2024
In Arlington, population growth + housing density + public transit → a reduction in traffic AND incredibly low traffic fatalities. “Since 1980, 82% of new housing units have been in buildings with 5+ units” www.bloomberg.com/opinion/arti...
Graph shows cumulative average weekday traffic counts at 25 intersections in Arlington declining over time from a peak in 2000
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Haley Lemieux @haleylemieux.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
For what it’s worth, infrequent reassessments can create more regressive property tax systems over time. An aside, but all of the TX cities in the chart have lower municipal property tax rates now than they did 10 years ago. The City of San Antonio hasn’t increased its rate in 30+ years.
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