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After months of heated debate, the Montgomery County Council voted 7-4 on Tuesday to adopt a rent stabilization bill that housing advocates said would stave off unsustainable increases for tenants.
The protections, which take effect after 91 days, aim to insulate economically vulnerable renters from sudden jumps in housing costs in a county where 8.5 percent of residents live in poverty, often just miles from some of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the D.C. area.
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County leaders say Montgomery is facing a housing shortage that could exacerbate those economic inequities by causing rents to shoot up even more quickly in coming years as demand far outstrips the available housing stock. But council members have disagreed about the best course of action to protect the most vulnerable residents.
Bill 15-23 arose from two competing measures put forward in March by opposing coalitions on the council: A rent stabilization bill that set a maximum cap at 3 percent, and an anti-rent-gouging proposal that would allow increases as high as 8 percent plus inflation.
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Council members Will Jawando (At Large) and Kristin Mink (District 5) introduced the lower cap, arguing that renters need substantial protections against hefty rent increases to rein in rising housing costs. But developers and landlords strongly opposed the measure, claiming it would stunt new construction and lead to even higher housing costs by worsening the housing shortage.
Council Vice President Andrew Friedson (District 1) and council member Natali Fani-González (District 6) introduced the competing 8 percent-plus-inflation cap as an alternative to address some of those concerns. But Fani-González said she came to support a 6 percent cap after learning that the average yearly rent increase over the past decade was just 2.1 percent and rarely exceeded 3 percent. But in 2021, rents rose on average by 9 percent.
Council member Sidney Katz (District 3) joined Fani-González in sponsoring the compromise bill, which set a cap at 3 percent plus inflation, or 6 percent, whichever is lower. Jawando, Mink and council members Laurie-Anne Sayles (At Large), Kate Stewart (District 4) and President Evan Glass (At Large) also supported the measure.
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The all-Democratic council considered more than a dozen amendments to the bill on Tuesday, including several that would have significantly weakened the bill. As the debate raged on, advocates waited in their seats to see what the final bill would look like.
After nearly nine hours, the council voted to exempt from the bill landlords who rent out two units or less, as well as newer buildings that have been on the market for fewer than 23 years and those undergoing extensive renovations. They also passed a banking provision, which allows landlords who do not implement a permitted rent increase to bank that amount in a future year — though it’s capped at 10 percent.
Council member Gabe Albornoz’s proposals to set the rent cap at 9 percent and sunset the bill after five years were among several amendments that failed to pass.
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“We’d be naive to think this isn’t going to have a substantial impact on potential future growth in the county,” said Albornoz (At Large). “We are playing with fire.”
After the final vote, he quickly left the room.
Tenant advocates whooped, cheered and stomped their feet. Their day began Tuesday morning on the steps of the council building, where about 50 people gathered with protest signs, including those reading, “Protect all renters in all types of housing” and “This Barbie supports vacancy control.”
Among the protesters was Maria Enriquez, 48, who lives in an apartment with her two daughters in Silver Spring. In the past two decades, she said, her rent has gone up from $700 per month including utilities to $1,700 per month plus additional utility bills.
“Sometimes, I have to make the decision of whether I am going to pay the rent or buy food,” Enriquez said in an interview conducted in Spanish. “It’s more important to have a roof over your head. We go to churches to get food.”
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Enriquez, a member of the immigrant advocacy organization CASA, celebrated the legislation. “I really would have preferred a cap of 3 or 4 percent, but what’s happening is movement forward,” she said.
County Executive Marc Elrich (D) expressed support for the bill.
“This is a win for the over 35% of Montgomery County residents who are renters,” he said in a statement. “I look forward to signing this bill into law as soon as it arrives on my desk.”
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