The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Secretary, Jake Day, announced this past week that DHCD continues to make Maryland a more affordable place to live by financing $1.64 billion in new development projects and providing $1 billion in acquisition mortgages for first-time homebuyers during Fiscal Year 2025.
In Fiscal Year 2025, the Department financed 3,997 newly constructed or substantially rehabilitated units through its Division of Development Finance, also known as the Community Development Administration – an increase of more than 1,000 additional units from FY2024’s total of 2,949. The Department’s $1.64 billion in project investments also surpassed the previous year’s $1.2 billion in commitments.
“The only proven way to make Maryland more affordable to live is to create more housing opportunities for people of all ages and income brackets. These numbers reflect our work over the last fiscal year to make that goal a reality,” said Secretary Jake Day. “Every new rental housing unit created and every person we turn into a Maryland homeowner demonstrates the dedication of our team to fulfill the Moore-Miller Administration’s goal to leave no one behind.”
The Community Development Administration is the housing finance agency for the State of Maryland and is responsible for expanding quality, affordable rental and transitional housing opportunities and providing homebuyer assistance programs through mortgage loans, down payment, and closing cost assistance. CDA also works to raise capital in the national municipal bond markets to provide financing at below-market interest rates to help people buy homes, assist nonprofit and for-profit entities construct and rehabilitate multifamily properties, and to help local governments improve and construct public infrastructure.
As part of creating and preserving these affordable rental units in Fiscal Year 2025, CDA:
Closed 36 multifamily transactions.
Issued approximately $413 million in long-term bonds.
Helped affordable housing communities raise $562.3 million in equity through federal Low Income Tax Credits.
The Department also continued to help Marylanders build generational wealth through homeownership with the department’s Maryland Mortgage Program (MMP). The MMP offers mortgage and down payment assistance options that are responsive to an ever-changing housing market, including innovative products like Maryland SmartBuy (assisting homebuyers with student debt) and HomeStart (assisting home buyers with income below 50% Area Median Income).
In FY2025, based on the numbers to date, MMP provided mortgages to almost 4,300 Marylanders and their families in the amount exceeding $1 billion. 68 percent of these recipients were minorities, and 99 percent were first-time home buyers.
For more information, visit the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s website at dhcd.maryland.gov.
Lauren Bunting is a Broker with Keller Williams Realty of Delmarva in Ocean City, Maryland.
