Housing Justice
PG Changemakers is a coalition member of Prince George's for Housing Justice Coalition, whose members include immigrant advocacy organization CASA, Neighborhood Design Center, NAACP, 1199 SEIU, Enterprise Community Partners, Laurel Area Referral Services, Independence Now, New Day Maryland and directly impacted tenants of Prince George's county. We support policies that center on the voices of working-class and immigrant communities and others in need of equity-focused housing policy solutions. Their needs, desires, and ideas guide our development of the solutions necessary to deliver housing justice for our communities. We support finding practical solutions to ending the war on poverty for transient members of the community, in partnership with other organizations; we seek to find practical solutions to end slum-lord housing of apartment and rental properties for vulnerable communities. We understand that a lack of affordable housing is a central part of the issues plaguing our communities.
Our short-term goals are to advocate for programs that aid tenants with rental assistance, reshape policies around tenants' rights, and create transitional housing for our unhoused population. Our long-term goals are to create policies around rent control in our communities and to create programs that allow seniors to age in place with dignity.
Updates
Earlier this year, the Prince George’s County Council passed a rent stabilization bill (CB-07-2023) and the Emergency Act Concerning Landlord Retaliation for Rent Stabilization (CB-051-2023) that temporarily prevents Prince George's County landlords from increasing a tenant’s existing rent above a certain amount for units, excluding affordable housing units with recorded covenants, market rate units, and co-op units.
On July 16th, 2024, the County Council passed a Permanent Rent Stabilization bill for Prince George's County. The policy includes partial vacancy control measures and regulates fees on renters. Annual rental increases are capped at 3% plus inflation (up to 6%), exempting buildings constructed after 2000. Permanent Rent Stabilization becomes law after October 14, 2024.