Hyattsville

Developer Plans 316 Apartments for Hyattsville; No ‘Affordable’ Units Planned

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A developer plans to build a 316-unit mixed-use apartment building in Hyattsville near the Prince George’s Plaza Metro Station.

Hyattsville

Hyattsville Council sets affordable housing policy goals

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In its effort to develop a comprehensive set of policies around affordable housing, Hyattsville City Council will focus on four key policy goals: increasing the number of units affordable for low income households, reducing property tax burdens, closing the racial homeownership gap, and to change regulations where possible to promote affordable housing production. 

This is the result of an hour-and-a-half discussion that came during a special worksession of Hyattsville City Council during its Oct. 5, 2020 meeting. The worksession and discussion was led by staff from Enterprise Community Partners, the consulting firm hired by Hyattsville to develop its affordable housing policy strategy. The resulting discussion gave insight into how the City Council, as a whole, was approaching this task. 

“It’s incredibly helpful for the public to not just see the work prudct of the consultancy that’s engaged, but it’s good for the public to see the way we grapple with important issues,” said Hyattsville Mayor Candace Hollingsworth as the discussion concluded. The purpose of the discussion was to identify and agree on four housing policy goals that the city will focus on over the next 10 years.

Hyattsville

Hyattsville approves tax cut for affordable housing

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Developers will soon be able to get tax breaks if they build affordable housing in Hyattsville. While many municipalities offer tax credits to lure developers, Hyattsville is believed to be the first of Prince George’s County’s 27 municipalities to tie these tax credits to the production of affordably-priced housing units. 

The move, approved at Hyattsville’s Aug. 10, 2020, City Council meeting, revises Hyattsville’s Revitalization Tax Credit program, which gives developers tax breaks for new construction near Prince George’s Plaza and West Hyattsville Metro stations and the Gateway Arts District along Baltimore Avenue. Previously, any project that significantly added to the city’s property tax base could apply for the tax credits. The developers behind the EYA Arts District development and the forthcoming Armory development have applied for these credits. 

The revisions add “production of affordable housing” to the list of eligible projects for the tax credits.

A photo, taken from the center lane of the Baltimore Avenue-slash-Route 1 corridor looking directly south from the intersection of Oglethorpe Street and Baltimore Avenue, shows an urban vista. The green hills of Bladensburg are in the far distance, set against a cloudy evening sky and above a ribbon of roadway. Nearer to the photographer, an urban streetscape reveals row-houses and mid-rise commercial buildings south of Madison Street set against tree-lined sidewalks. Light traffic is seen on the roadway.
Affordability

Hyattsville housing study finds rising rents, cost-burdened households

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Underlying a Hyattsville housing market that is becoming more expensive are cost-burdened households, changing housing market conditions, and a lack of affordable housing options, according to a new analysis of the city’s housing affordability landscape. The analysis was conducted by Enterprise Community Partners, which was hired by the city of Hyattsville in 2019 to analyze housing conditions and craft policy proposals to address rising housing costs in the city. The first part of that job, an analysis of existing conditions, was unveiled at a virtual forum held June 9, 2020. The second part – policy recommendations – are still being developed. Demographic changes

The report highlighted significant shifts in the city’s socio-economic demographics within the past decade.