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Monday, March 31, 2025
April is Fair Housing Month in the State of Maryland: Free Trainings Available!
Civil Rights Coalition of Maryland Virtual Open House is on April 4th and 17th
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Monday, March 17, 2025
US Lacks 7.1 Million Affordable Homes - 77% of Low-Income Marylander Renters are Severely Cost-Burdened
The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes is published annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) highlighting the shortage of affordable homes for low-income renters throughout the nation. This year's report discovered a national shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renter households. There are only 35 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households nationwide.
The Gap report also investigates the affordability and availability of rental homes for households of different income levels nationwide and in every state and major metropolitan area. The supply of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income households remains deeply inadequate nationwide and in Maryland. The states with the highest percentages of "Extremely Low-Income Renter Households with Severe Cost Burden" were Nevada (86%), Florida (82%), Texas and Arizona (81%), and Oregon and the District of Columbia (80%).
Some 77% of extremely low-income renters in Maryland are severely housing cost-burdened, spending more than 50% of their income on housing, with little left over for food, healthcare, or other basic necessities. That ranks Maryland ties for 9th with two other states. The Gap report found that there are 196,936 extremely low-income households in Maryland and just 35 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 of these households.
Meanwhile, a new analysis from Realtor.com has found that while new home construction picked up for the first time since 2016 in 2024, the housing gap totaling 3.8 million remains. The company measured the housing supply gap using data on new home construction, household formations and pent-up housing demand. The analysis found that more than 1.6 million homes were completed in 2024, the highest level in nearly 20 years.
Thursday, March 13, 2025
Maryland Insurance Administration Takes Action Against Erie Insurance for Discriminatory Business Practices
The Maryland Insurance Administration (MIA) has taken corrective actions against certain insurers of the Erie Insurance Group after a market conduct examination uncovered unlawful practices resulting in fewer Erie policies written and renewed in urban ZIP codes, particularly in Baltimore City.
The examination resulted in a Market Conduct Examination Report. As stated in the report, the examination found that Pennsylvania-based Erie encouraged insurance agents affiliated with its companies to engage in a practice they called “front line underwriting," in which the agents were encouraged to reject otherwise qualified applicants who they deemed might be unprofitable for the company. Once an insurer establishes its underwriting eligibility guidelines and rates and files those rates with the MIA, it cannot under Maryland insurance law refuse to issue a policy to anyone who meets those guidelines.
The MIA's examination also found that Erie agents were penalized if their books of business resulted in a certain loss ratio, regardless of whether their customers qualified for Erie coverage. The penalties included reduced commissions and termination. The MIA found that this reliance on loss ratio primarily impacted insurance agents serving urban areas such as Baltimore.
As part of the Market Conduct Examination Report, the MIA and Erie agreed to a consent order with corrective actions. Under the order, Erie must:
- Cease and desist from all unlawful practices, including front line underwriting and direct or indirect use of adverse loss ratios, except as permitted by law.
- Submit a corrective action plan for review and approval to the MIA.
- Submit a list of all agent terminations and commission reductions, with an explanation of the actions, and prepare an efficient process for resolving any adverse findings concerning the proprietary of those actions.
- Pay an administrative penalty of $400,000, due within one year of the order. If the MIA finds that the company is in continued compliance with the order, $200,000 of the penalty will be waived.
The investigations began in 2021, based on complaints from four insurance agencies about Erie's practices. In 2023, the MIA issued four public determination letters stating that Erie had violated Maryland state insurance law.
Before the Market Conduct Examination Report was released, Erie filed due process complaints in U.S. District Court. The MIA prevailed in that case, and Erie appealed to the U.S. Fourth Circuit, which ruled in favor of the MIA in June 2024. The MIA then entered into settlement discussions with Erie, resulting in the consent order. Erie maintains that it did not violate the Insurance Article but agreed to the directives and corrective actions in the report.
Thursday, February 6, 2025
Happy Lunar New Year, Baltimore!
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Happy Lunar New Year, Baltimore! May the Year of the Snake be filled with joy, prosperity, and good luck for you and your loved ones. Among others - such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Harbor Point, Seeing Green Studio, Ekiben and Cafe Dear Leon, the Corner Pantry, Baltimore County Public Library, and MGM National Harbor - the Walters Art Museum annually holds a Lunar New Year celebration attended by visitors of all ages for a day of art-making, tours, story time sessions, photo booth fun, food, and more! On February 1, 2025, the Peabody Heights Brewery and the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) Baltimore joined forces to celebrate Lunar New Year with a Beer Release: SALAK – Snake Fruit Inspired Beer; Activities: Money Tree, Snakes & Ladders, and Paper Chain Snakes; Performances: Dual Lion Dance and music by Steve Hung; Food: Ekiben; Vendors: Asian owned businesses; Asian-Themed Arcade Games; and Art by Reed Bmore & Jethro Patalinghug.
Lunar New Year is a celebration of the arrival of spring and the beginning of a new year on the lunisolar calendar. It is the most important holiday in China, and it is also widely celebrated in South Korea, Vietnam, and countries with a significant overseas Chinese population. While the official dates encompassing the holiday vary by culture, those celebrating consider it the time of the year to reunite with immediate and extended family.
Lunar New Year is the beginning of a new year based on lunar calendars or, informally but more widely, lunisolar calendars. Typically, both types of calendar begin with a new moon but, whilst a lunar calendar year has a fixed number (usually twelve) of lunar months, lunisolar calendars have a variable number of lunar months, resetting the count periodically to resynchronise with the solar year. The event is celebrated by numerous cultures in various ways at diverse dates. The determination of the first day of a new lunar or lunisolar year varies by culture.
Commonly known as the Spring Festival in China, Lunar New Year is a fifteen-day celebration marked by many traditions. At home, families decorate windows with red paper cuttings and adorn doors with couplets expressing auspicious wishes for the new year. Shopping for holiday sundries in open-air markets and cleaning the house are also traditions. The Lunar New Year’s Eve reunion dinner is the highlight that begins the holiday, a feast with a spread of symbolic dishes, such as a whole fish representing abundance, that bring good luck and fortune. The fifteenth and final day of the holiday is the Lantern Festival, during which people have tangyuan, or sweet glutinous rice balls, and children carry lanterns around the neighborhood at night to mark the end of the celebration.
In the Chinese zodiac, 2025 is the year of the snake. Different regions across Asia celebrate Lunar New Year in many ways and may follow a different zodiac. However, many Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders do not observe the Chinese/lunar zodiac.
After 10 years of advocating for its inclusion by China and other countries in Asia, the United Nations unanimously passed a resolution in 2023 to recognize Lunar New Year (based on the lunisolar Chinese calendar), as a floating holiday, at the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly. This meant that starting in 2024, UN bodies were encouraged to avoid holding meetings during that day, marking Lunar New Year as the eighth floating holiday that is observed by UN staff internationally.
Upcoming ICJS Events on Religious Bias and Hate
Major religious holidays converge this spring as Muslims observe Ramadan, Christians mark Lent and Easter, and Jews observe Passover. This convergence doesn’t happen every year, as these holidays follow different calendars. But it offers us a golden opportunity for interreligious learning about religious traditions and rituals, an opportunity the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies (ICJS) takes with its original video, Lived Diversity: How We Observe and Celebrate Passover, Easter, and Ramadan.
But these observances also remind us that throughout history into the present day, some of our brothers and sisters have been the targets of hate because of their religious identities. In this environment of political polarization, exacerbated by violence in the Middle East, incidents of both antisemitism and Islamophobia are on the rise. Dismantling religious bias and bigotry lies at the heart of ICJS’ mission.
This month, ICJS offer several events and resources that address religious bias and hate, including:
- A February 24, 2025 Event (noon-1 p.m. online) about multifaith coalitions opposing Islamophobia: Shoulder to Shoulder: Building Coalitions to Challenge Islamophobia. Join Nina M. Fernando, Executive Director of Shoulder to Shoulder, as she speaks with ICJS Muslim Scholar Zeyneb Sayilgan about her organization's efforts to challenge Islamophobia and its shared commitment with ICJS to foster greater interreligious understanding. Register Now.
- A Presentation by Matthew D. Taylor about addressing anti-Judaism in Christian ritual and tradition entitled Journeying Through Lent with an Interreligious Lens: A Workshop. Taylor examines the passion narrative in the Gospel of Mark, reading it in its proper Jewish context that has too often been stripped away. “The consequence of that [reading] is ‘the Jews’ have become this abstracted, monolithic community that is treated as guilty, or at least complicit, in killing the Jewish Messiah. Watch video.
- A February 26, 2025 Panel (7 p.m. online), that includes Heather Miller Rubens and Celene Ibrahim, marking the 60th anniversary of the Vatican document, Nostra Aetate, that advanced interfaith relations: Nostra Aetate at 60: Imagining Muslim-Christian Relations for the Next 60 Years. Nostra Aetate is often cited as a landmark document in Catholic-Jewish relations, but it also commented on other non-Christian religions, including Islam. Nostra Aetate expressed respect for Muslims, called for dialogue and cooperation between Christians and Muslims, and condemned discrimination and hatred based on religion.
Please join us as we redouble our commitment to counter religious bias and bigotry. And whatever holiday you are celebrating or observing this season, may it be meaningful and joyous.
Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies
956 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson, MD 21204
410.494.7161 / info@icjs.org
Vote YES on SB107/HB392 to Expand Housing Justice in Maryland
In 2023, there were 198 fair housing complaints in the Baltimore Metro region. Economic Action MD received many fair housing complaints based on access to reasonable accommodations to assist residents with a disability. Testing is legal in Maryland to help determine if discrimination exists.
To determine whether housing providers are discriminating against Marylanders because of race, gender, ethnicity, how someone pays for their rent, or other legally-protected reasons, fair housing organizations conduct tests to see if discrimination exists. In 39 states including Virginia and the District of Columbia, fair housing testers use an audio recording to accurately capture the conversation with the housing provider, which can later be used as evidence if the provider violates civil rights law. However, in Maryland, taping a conversation to root out discrimination is illegal.
SB107/HB392 sponsored by Sen. Charles Sydnor and Del. Sandy Bartlett gives fair housing organizations and programs in Maryland the tools needed to more accurately document discrimination by allowing audio recordings. These recordings, when used as evidence in a housing discrimination are irrefutable, especially compared to the option of using only the handwritten notes taken by testers, which ultimately comes down to a "he said/she said" debate.
Using recorded evidence of fair housing testing often leads to early resolution and settlement, rather than protracted litigation. It also helps protect testers and housing providers since there are clear audio recordings which act as quality control. Finally, using audio recordings provides the best evidence in court and is recommended by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Read more about SB107/HB392 here.
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
Recent Data on Maryland: Housing is Unaffordable for Many
Shortage of Affordable Housing
According to the June, 2024 "Maryland Housing Profile" compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), Maryland has "a shortage of rental homes affordable and available to extremely low income households (ELI), whose incomes are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income (AMI). Many of these households are severely cost burdened, spending more than half of their income on housing. Severely cost burdened poor households are more likely than other renters to sacrifice other necessities like healthy food and healthcare to pay the rent, and to experience unstable housing situations like evictions." The statistics are stark:
197,310 or 26% - .Renter households that are extremely low income.
-134,192 - Shortage of rental homes affordable and available for extremely low income renters.
$37,740 - Average income limit for 4-person extremely low income household.
$76,345 - Annual household income needed to afford a two-bedroom rental home at HUD's Fair Market Rent.
73% - Percent of extremely low income renter households with severe cost burden.
According to the NLIHC's Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing (2024), working at minimum wage of $15.00/hour each week you have to work 82 hours to afford a modest 1 bedroom rental home at the State's Fair Market Rent. In Maryland, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,909. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities - without paying more than 30% of income on housing - a household must earn $6,362 monthly or $76,345 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into an hourly Housing Wage of $36.70.
Read the Maryland profile in the NLIHC's Out of Reach report.
Housing Inventory Characteristics
In 2019-2023, Maryland had a total of 2.5 million housing units. Of these housing units:
72.4% were single-family houses either not attached to any other structure or attached to one or more structures (commonly referred to as "townhouses" or "row houses").
26.2% of the housing units were located in multi-unit structures, or those buildings that contained two or more apartments.
1.3% were mobile homes, while any remaining housing units were classified as "other," which included boats, recreational vehicles, vans, etc.
When was the Housing Built?
8.6% of the housing inventory was comprised of houses built since 2010, while 10.8% of the houses were first built in 1939 or earlier. The median number of rooms in all housing units in Maryland was 6.2 rooms, and of these housing units 66.4 percent had three or more bedrooms (Source: DP04 | Selected Housing Characteristics).
Occupied Housing Characteristics
In 2019-2023, Maryland had 2.3 million housing units that were occupied or had people living in them, while the remaining 206,022 were vacant.
Of the occupied housing units, the percentage of these houses occupied by owners (also known as the homeownership rate) was 67.5% while renters occupied 32.5%. The average household size of owner-occupied houses was 2.70 and in renter-occupied houses it was 2.34.
Some 9.3% of householders of these occupied houses had moved into their house since 2021, while 10.9% moved into their house in 1989 or earlier. Households without a vehicle available for personal use comprised 8.7% and another 22.1% had three or more vehicles available for use (Source: DP04 | Selected Housing Characteristics).
Financial Characteristics and Housing Costs
In 2019-2023, the median property value for owner-occupied houses in Maryland was $397,700.
Of the owner-occupied households, 71.5% had a mortgage. 28.5% owned their houses "free and clear," that is without a primary mortgage or loan on the house. The median monthly housing costs for owners with a mortgage was $2,301 and for owners without a mortgage it was $728.
For renter-occupied households, the median gross rent for Maryland was $1,662. Gross rent includes the monthly contract rent and any monthly payments made for electricity, gas, water and sewer, and any other fuels to heat the house (Source: DP04 | Selected Housing Characteristics).
Disability
In Maryland, among the civilian noninstitutionalized population in 2019-2023, 11.4% reported a disability. The likelihood of having a disability varied by age - from 4.3% of people under 18 years old, to 9.2% of people 18 to 64 years old, and to 29.6% of those 65 and over (Source: DP02 | Selected Social Characteristics in the United States).
Go to the Census Bureau's 1999-2023 Maryland Narrative Profile.
Monday, December 16, 2024
Maryland Continues to be Not Affordable for Many
Recent census data indicates that the cost of housing in the Baltimore area and the Maryland is increasing at a slower rate than the US. However, The increase of Maryland's housing costs is over 15% higher than the national average and a larger percentage of renters are cost burdened. The median Maryland renter pays around $1,600 a month in rent and utilities, about $100 more than the average Baltimore-area renter. Renters’ costs have increased 22.5% statewide and 24% in the Baltimore region compared with 32% nationally.
Nationally, the number of cost-burdened renter households hit yet another record high in 2023. In 2023, the number of renter households spending more than 30% of their incomes on rent and utilities was an all-time high of 22.6 million. A record-high 12.1 million severely burdened households spent over half of their incomes on housing costs. About half of all renter households were cost burdened in 2023. This rate was essentially unchanged compared to 2022, but rose 3.2 percentage points from pre-pandemic levels and 9.0 percentage points since 2001.
Nationally and within Maryland, renters are more likely to spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Statewide more than 46% of renters are cost burdened compared with a quarter of homeowners. In the Baltimore area (including Queen Anne’s County, Baltimore City, and the five surrounding counties) the same share of renters are cost burdened while the rate for mortgage holders is over a percentage point lower.
Baltimore City
The City has a mismatch between rental costs and the kind of rental units being constructed. Despite the growing unaffordability of housing in Maryland and especially the Baltimore area, luxury apartment buildings continue to be built. Since 2020, 80% newly constructed apartment buildings in Baltimore were luxury housing, according to real estate data firm the Costar Group. Most housing development worldwide is higher-end because of the higher profit potential for developers.
Some areas of Baltimore have a particularly high cost burden for renters. Tract 907 in Baltimore’s Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello neighborhood, for example, 70% of households are cost burdened. Rental units are just over half of the housing stock. The Community Development Network of Maryland said incomes were not rising to meet the costs of rent, emphasizing the mismatch between the high number of luxury units versus what Baltimoreans can afford.
Anne Arundel County
In Arundel's tract 7305.11 in the Glen Burnie area, 67% of households are cost burdened. County Executive Steuart Pittman said the disparity was part of a “housing crisis.” “Affordability is more important than just supply,” Pittman said. “The affordability problem doesn’t get any better when all you build is luxury housing.”
Current housing developments across the county are not required to have affordable housing, but new projects will be. Under the Housing Attainability Act, becoming effective in July, new housing developments over 20 units will be required to have 15% of its units for affordable rentals and 10% for affordable homes for sale.
Howard County
Maryland’s most expensive jurisdiction for renters and mortgage holders, Howard - where 28% of housing units are rented - has the largest affordability gap between homeowners and renters. Some 44% of County renters were cost burdened compared to 20% of homeowners. The median rent in the county is $2,040 a month, while median monthly housing costs for homeowners was $2,950.
The County has recently made investments to stabilize the housing situation in the area, such as $2 million invested to subsidize rentals and security deposit guarantees for the families of county students experiencing homelessness. The County’s Moderate Income Housing Unit Program requires a percentage of housing built to be affordable to households of moderate income - with moderate income level defined as “household income less than 80% of the Howard County median income (AMI) for units for sale and household income less than 60% of the Howard County median income for rental units."
Monday, September 23, 2024
Maryland Gets Federal Grant to Support a Project to Document Places Related to the Civil Rights Movement in Baltimore City.
The $50,000 grant is to the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT). Information obtained through the project will be available on the MHT’s online cultural resource information system, Medusa.
Baltimoreans have advocated, organized, and marched for civil rights since the city’s founding – in rowhouses, churches, parks, universities, factories, corner stores, and more, said Gov. Moore in a news release. Our history is our power, and the Moore-Miller Administration is committed to telling the stories of Baltimore City's long tradition of civil rights leadership.
The African American Civil Rights grant program funds preservation projects and sites tied to the struggle of African Americans to gain equal rights.
As a contribution to Maryland’s Year of Civil Rights, the project will document approximately twelve places important to the Civil Rights Movement in Baltimore City for inclusion in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties.
Studying and documenting this history, then making the results available for all in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties, will help us to better understand how the Civil Rights Movement pushed back against segregated spaces and sought to dismantle discrimination in Baltimore, said Maryland Department of Planning Secretary Rebecca Flora, AICP in a news release.
The project is expected to begin this fall and will additionally involve community outreach and oral histories.
Tuesday, September 17, 2024
Meeting Describing New Maryland Health Equity Resource Community Programs is September 26th
Please join Maryland Health Care for All's virtual event to hear about health resources coming to communities across the state! The Community Health Resources Commission and partners will describe new Health Equity Resource Community programs. These programs were funded thanks to your advocacy for the Health Equity Resource Act! Health equity is when everyone has a fair and just opportunity to be as healthy as possible.
The Maryland Health Care for All! Coalition successfully advocated for the Maryland Health Equity Resource Communities Act in 2021 in an effort to increase state investment in efforts to advance health equity. The latest round of Health Equity Resource Communities have been awarded by the Community Health Resources Commission as a result of this law
The meeting will be on September 26th from 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. via Zoom, and will include breakout rooms by region to learn about the programs in your community which seek to improve health outcomes and reduce disparities.