Recently, there has been talk at the county level of putting "Workforce Housing" on seven pieces of land around the county. Two of those sites are in Potomac on land owned by the Board of Education.
First, the Board must find that it no longer needs the sites for school purposes and declare them as surplus. One site is on Brickyard Road, the other on Kendale Road, but now the Board of Education is going to build a new school on Kendale Road, and possibly declare the current site of Seven Locks Elementary as surplus.
No formal decision has been made about either site and the board is investigating what they might be able to get in exchange for the land.
Workforce housing differs from Moderately Priced Housing in that it is for people with higher incomes. While MPDUs are for families that make less than 60 percent of the area median, workforce housing caters to people who make between 60 and 120 percent of the federally calculated median income for the area, said Elizabeth Davidson, director of the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.
The income level varies depending upon the number of people in the household. For a family of four, the annual income level would be between $52,200 and $104,400, said Davidson.
The program would contain re-sale controls, similar to those placed on the county’s Moderately Priced Dwelling Units. These controls make it impossible for someone to buy the property at the reduced cost, and then quickly resell them at a market rate and make a substantial profit.
The goal of providing workforce housing is to allow people who serve a community, such as Montgomery County, to live it. "We’re talking about social workers, librarians, entry level technical workers, policemen and teachers," Davidson said. "People who are mainstream members of society. People who feel they can’t live in the community where they work."
Davidson stressed that individuals who live in workforce housing are not the people who are typically thought of in connection with government housing. "People have a stereotype," she said. "You probably work with these people or are related to them."