Dear Friends,
I often discuss the need to ensure that our investments are strategic and actually increase our stock of affordable housing.
In just the last month or so, the County has worked with its partners to help add almost 400 affordable housing units. First, there was the grand opening celebration of the Allium Place in Wheaton. This week, we celebrated the opening of close to 200 new apartments in a building called the Residences at Forest Glen.
This complex, built by MHP, is for residents earning less than 60% of area median income (AMI). The only requirement for a new apartment complex is that 12.5% to 15% must be affordable, so this project goes well beyond the standard.
With this project, 100% of the apartments are considered affordable.
This is a win for working families, including our teachers, health care workers and retail industry workers. When we devote public money to housing, we should be trying to accomplish this. We want Montgomery County to be enjoyed by people of all income levels and not “priced out” of living here.
And there’s more coming. The Chimes of North Bethesda will create another 163 units of affordable housing soon. We have also committed tens of millions of dollars over the next few years to help develop a multi-faceted project in Wheaton that will create 39 townhomes and 320 multi-family units, as well as new office space and an arts and cultural center along Georgia Avenue. We’re also getting money from the State to help support the start of this project. We’re currently in the planning phase, but it won’t be long before construction begins, and we celebrate a grand opening. You can view the latest project update here.
In addition to looking to the future, I want to celebrate what we’ve accomplished. The Residences at Forest Glen are modern and dignified, and they allow more of our neighbors to remain right here in our community. You can hear from our partners and special guests from Tuesday’s ceremony on the County’s Facebook page or view photos from the ceremony on our Flickr page.
I want to thank MHP and nonprofits like them, who work hard to ensure everyone can enjoy Montgomery County. MHP was able to use federal tax break support obtained through the State to help make the math work on this project. I continue to appreciate the County’s housing team, led by Dr. Scott Bruton, director of our Department of Housing and Community Affairs. They continue to deliver these projects efficiently and create more affordable housing as quickly as we can. They help us spend our limited resources wisely.
While it’s never easy to see older buildings come down, the condition of this complex made it clear that redevelopment was the right path, allowing us to create something new and provide even more units than before. I consider this a victory for our community and the people who will call it home. They are within walking distance of a Metro Station, along several bus lines and next to a major road. It is a great place for families to live, thrive and stay for a long time.
I want to say a little bit about one of the factors contributing to the shortage of affordable housing. Back in 2000, as you can see in the chart above, we had about 45,000 naturally occurring affordable housing units (NOAH) — meaning that they were affordable without subsidies, buy-downs or special County programs. Rent at the time was more reasonable. That has changed since then, and now we have “lost” half of what was affordable, and we are forecasted to lose even more in the next five years. There are two main causes: rising rents that exceed the inflation rate and the redevelopment of affordable units into market-rate buildings with less affordability.
A Montgomery County Preservation Study details how analysts forecasted a loss of at least 14,000 and up to 18,000 NOAH units between 2018 and 2030. Again, we had 45,000 naturally occurring affordable housing units in 2000.
Failing to act on rent stabilization sooner really cost us. We had the units in place to serve more of our community, but now we are trying to catch up to what we had in place two decades ago. The cost of replacing these units is far greater than what it would have cost us to simply keep the price of rent in check.
X-Energy Expands to New HQ in Gaithersburg, Will Add New Jobs
I want to congratulate X-Energy, which announced some big changes this week.
The company will move its corporate headquarters from Rockville to Gaithersburg, putting its offices closer to a new building it bought in Frederick County for testing. The company is a leading developer of advanced small modular nuclear reactors. It uses proprietary fuel technology to design simplified and modular devices that deliver reliable, zero-carbon and affordable energy.
What used to take immense power plants to produce can now be created on small sites. This innovative approach expands the applications and markets for nuclear technology, driving enhanced safety, lower costs and faster construction timelines.
X-Energy said it has collected $700 million in financing help from companies like Amazon and institutions like the University of Michigan. Some of that money is being invested in reactor design and licensing, and then the first phase of a fuel fabrication facility will be finished in Oak Ridge, Tenn.
Even while expanding its vision and footprint, X-energy will retain its 260 full-time employees at its new corporate headquarters. It plans to create at least 525 new jobs along I-270 over the next six years.
The Maryland Department of Commerce is working to approve two conditional loans totaling $2.35 million through Advantage Maryland. Montgomery County is providing up to $500,000 through its Job Creation Fund Program and up to $150,000 through its MOVE Grant Program. The company is also eligible for other state and local tax credits.
These investments from the County and State will result in hundreds of good-paying jobs while also strengthening our region as a center for innovation.
‘National Night Out’ Puts Focus on Public Safety
We are gearing up for “National Night Out” on Tuesday, Aug. 5.
It’s an opportunity to meet with the law enforcement and first responders who serve their community. It’s one of the busiest nights of the year, with community groups, County departments and neighborhood activists using the night to promote safety and unity. Police plan to visit more than 20 sites throughout our community, from the Kentlands to the Coffield Community Center to the East County Regional Services Center to Olney.
We have a lot to celebrate in 2025. After three consecutive years of rising crime through 2023, the Montgomery County Police Department (MCPD) saw a 7% drop in 2024. So far this year, overall crime is down 13% from the same period last year. You can monitor the latest public safety data through the MCPD website.
I want to thank MCPD for their work while also dealing with significant department vacancies. The department has also implemented 85% of the recommendations outlined in the Reimagining Public Safety Initiative, which we first started tracking in 2021. Another 11% of those recommendations made by consultants after an independent review of the department are in the process of being implemented. The dashboard showing our progress is available here.
More than one million calls to 911 for help have been made in the past 18 months. That keeps our officers busy, but we are also strategic in how we use technology to help our department cover such a large jurisdiction.
We have launched the Real Time Intelligence Center, which allows analysts to collect helpful information so that our officers can respond to a situation in real time. Our Drone as First Responder program continues to expand and help more of our residents and officers in emergency and non-emergency situations. Our community also helps by granting us limited access when requested to more than 1,600 cameras mounted in neighborhoods across the County for crime prevention purposes.
As compared to last year, property theft is down 13% and motor vehicle thefts are down 25%. However, some crimes happen like clockwork. We see a rash of car break-ins every summer, and this summer is no exception. You shouldn’t leave valuables in your car. Unfortunately, our region has been popular with car theft rings over the last few years, justifying our purchase of more license plate readers to help us identify stolen cars in our area, as these stolen cars are often used to commit other crimes.
Driving Under the Influence (DUI) is another crime that increases with the season. We have more officers on the road right now looking for signs of intoxicated drivers. This special enforcement began around Memorial Day and has resulted in more than 900 traffic stops and 127 DUI arrests. Analyzing this data alerted us to a disproportionate number of Hispanic men being pulled over, so we are increasing our education efforts about the dangers of drinking and driving within the Hispanic community.
I want to echo the comments of County Council President Kate Stewart earlier this week and express appreciation to the 3rd District police officers who recently prevented a suicide attempt at a parking garage.
Both the officer and the individual were hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries. This could have ended very badly if it weren’t for the action of these officers.
Mental health problems can lead to tragic incidents in an instant. We need everyone struggling and those who love them to call or text the Suicide and Crisis Hotline at 988 for help with mental health crises.
This incident also reminds us that our police officers are not just police officers — they are also called upon to be social workers. They need to understand the law as well as a lawyer, practice mediation and de-escalation techniques as well as a professional mediator or therapist, be community ambassadors, or work with and respect the residents they serve. It is a very tough job.
Over my last six years as County Executive, I have repeatedly praised MCPD's reputation in this County and throughout our region. I think that is because they are engaging, listening and caring about what is going on in our communities.
This week, I was joined by MCPD’s Assistant Chief Nicholas Augustine for my weekly media briefing to discuss public safety, a discussion you can watch on the County’s YouTube page.
I want to invite you to attend a nearby “National Night Out” event next Tuesday. It is a great opportunity to meet the men and women not just in the police department but across our County government.
Check out the County's event calendar for a listing of the “National Night Out” events in the community. The calendar details more than 20 events happening around the community.
EPA Announces that Greenhouse Gases Don’t Matter Anymore
Right now, the Trump Administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is moving to eliminate the federal government’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions under the Clean Air Act. The news is changing quickly (and not for the better), and I implore you to stay educated on these attempts to change our planet. This is a direct attack on decades of environmental progress.
They’re trying to throw out the 2009 "endangerment finding," which is the legal foundation that allows the federal government to regulate dangerous pollutants like methane and carbon dioxide from power plants, vehicles and other industries.
Without that finding, the EPA can’t do its job. That job is protecting us from carbon dioxide and other dangerous pollution that is overheating our planet, poisoning our air and making our weather more extreme and dangerous.
The Supreme Court decided in 2007 that the EPA can regulate these pollutants under the Clean Air Act if they are a danger to human health and the environment. Saying climate pollution isn’t dangerous doesn’t stop the danger; it just strips away the protections we depend on. For example, vehicles sold in Maryland must be built to emit less carbon pollution because of Clean Air Act regulations. The cars you buy based on this change could belch more carbon pollution, should the Trump Administration proposal succeed.
This policy announcement comes as we are experiencing the consequences of climate change through record heat, massive floods, wildfires and wild storms made worse by warmer oceans. We are witnessing how a warming planet impacts our weather and ignoring the measures to keep it from getting worse. People will pay the price.
The EPA Administrator even said this is the “most consequential day of deregulation.” They mock the safety rails put in place over the last 15 years as “climate change religion.” Meanwhile, they’re the ones following a reckless ideology. Climate change and the dangers of greenhouse gases and other pollutants are facts based in science; they are not ideological positions. Even though decisions to protect the environment are based on science, they’re simply pretending that GHGs and other pollutants are harmless to the planet and don’t impact humans.
Their goal is to make the law blind to the harm our companies do to our environment. This administration seems determined to gut every tool we have to fight climate change. They’re not looking out for public health or the environment; they're simply trying to score political wins at the expense of our air, our water and our future.
We must fight this effort because, if not, the planet our children see when they have children and grandchildren might not be livable. It’s about whether the government still works for the people or just for polluters. We can still use our voice to organize, be heard and reverse these inane policies before it is too late.
Appreciation for Summer RISE Participation
Last week, I had the chance to hear from many of the Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students who participated in the Summer RISE program and spent the last month learning about our government from the inside. They were embedded in departments across the County, learning from our employees and seeing how we serve you every day.
I got an interesting report from them on what they noticed and what we can change in our day-to-day operations to reach more people and better serve Montgomery County.
This year, my own office hosted three Summer RISE students who showed initiative and creativity in the assignments they were given. As a former teacher, I love hearing about our County from their perspective. Normally, I can sit down and do an on-camera interview with each of our students, but this year, there was only time for one. I hope you watch it on our YouTube page or when we share the conversation on social media. Please realize there are many more students who are better prepared for the working world and the rest of their time in school, thanks to Summer RISE. It is a great program, and I encourage more parents to support the initiative, so MCPS realizes the impact it has on our community.
As always, my appreciation for all of you,
Marc Elrich
County Executive
