Office of the Secretary
The Office of the Secretary provides leadership, policy direction, and resources to ensure the Department accomplishes its mission and goals. It supervises and coordinates the Department’s activities, approves all revenue bonds issued by the Community Development Administration for housing and local infrastructure projects, and provides support services to the Department, including legislative affairs, communications and marketing, research, legal services, fair practices, personnel management, performance management, and community outreach.
Division of Homeless Solutions
The Division of Homeless Solutions is responsible for leading the state's interagency strategy, policy, and initiatives to prevent and end homelessness for all Marylanders. This vital work includes leading the Maryland Interagency Council on Homelessness and facilitating cross-sector collaborations with government, nonprofit, philanthropic, and other strategic partners. The Division administers grant funds and technical assistance to local governments and nonprofits that are delivering critical safety net programs in their communities - such as street outreach, shelter, permanent housing, food pantries, foreclosure counseling, homebuyer education, benefits enrollment, workforce development, early childhood care, and specialized services for aging adults, domestic violence survivors, and youth. The Division also serves as the HUD-designated lead agency for the Balance of State Continuum of Care, coordinating funding, data collection, performance management, client assessment, and housing referral systems in 9 rural and suburban counties.
Division of Just Communities
The Division of Just Communities is responsible for developing, implementing, and accelerating strategies to lift up communities that have experienced historical and ongoing socio-economic marginalization. The Department created the Division of Just Communities in 2023 to prioritize resources in areas that need it the most based on historical disinvestment to right the wrongs of the past.
Division of Policy Strategy and Research
The Division of Policy, Strategy, and Research coordinates strategic planning, data analysis and reporting, and policy development and advocacy. By bringing together the building blocks necessary for data-driven decision-making and prioritization, the Division serves as a "think tank" inside of DHCD that is responsible for tracking and vetting best-practice models and policy recommendations from advocates and stakeholders. The Division also plays a leading role in grantseeking as well as compliance requirements related to federal grants and allocations, such as the Consolidated Plan. The Division of Policy, Strategy, and Research consists of the Office of Legislative Affairs, Office of Policy Development, and Office of Research & Compliance as well as the Special Assistant to the Secretary.
Office of Statewide Broadband
The Office of Statewide Broadband’s mission is to ensure that every Marylander has equal access and the necessary skills to leverage digital resources, technologies, and opportunities, regardless of their background, location, or abilities. To help accomplish this goal, the state partners with the private sector and local jurisdictions to reduce, and eventually eliminate, the number of communities and residents underserved by the current digital divide.
Community Development Administration
The Department of Housing and Community Development’s Division of Development Finance, also known as the Community Development Administration, is the housing finance agency for the State of Maryland. The Community Development Administration comprises three branches: Multifamily Housing, Single Family Housing and Finance.
Community Development Administration Multifamily Housing expands quality, affordable rental and transitional housing opportunities for Marylanders by financing the development, rehabilitation, and preservation of rental communities and transitional housing, and by administering
rental assistance programs and the
Federal Low Income Housing Tax Credit program.
Community Development Administration Single Family Housing provides homebuyer assistance programs by offering mortgage loans and down payment and closing cost assistance to eligible homebuyers with low-to moderate-income, programs to rehabilitate single family rental housing to improve basic livability, and programs to meet unique housing needs, including lead paint reduction, weatherization assistance and financing for persons with special needs.
Community Development Administration Finance raises capital in the national municipal bond markets to provide financing at below-market interest rates for individuals to purchase single family homes, for nonprofit and for-profit entities to construct and rehabilitate multifamily properties, and for local governments to improve and construct public infrastructure. The Community Development Administration’s primary financing sources are municipal bonds and State-appropriated funds.
Neighborhood Revitalization
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s Division of Neighborhood Revitalization is dedicated to working with local partners to bring new investment and vitality to Maryland’s core communities. Neighborhood Revitalization’s broad range of loan, grant and technical assistance programs help local governments, nonprofit organizations and small businesses reinvest in their communities and make great places for Marylanders to live, work and prosper.
Division of Credit Assurance / Maryland Housing Fund
The Maryland Housing Fund was created in 1971 as a unique mortgage insurance program. The Maryland Housing Fund maintains existing primary and pool insurance for residential mortgages financed with revenue bond proceeds issued by the Community Development Administration, as well as primary insurance for certain permanent loans by public and private lenders. In 2002, the Department reopened a limited multi-family program of the Maryland Housing Fund, insuring mortgage loans known as “SHOP” (Special Housing Opportunity Program). The SHOP loans finance or refinance the acquisition, construction, or rehabilitation of shared living and related facilities for the special needs population, which are owned and sponsored by nonprofit organizations. In 2004 the Department expanded its Maryland Housing Fund insurance program to authorize insurance on a case by case basis, financed by bonds, including loans with Credit Enhancement under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Risk Sharing Program. During the summer of 2005 the Department opened a Maryland Housing Fund program to insure 40 year single family mortgage loans being purchased by the Community Development Administration. In addition, the Department authorized the expenditure of up to $1 million of the Revitalization Revenues to provide credit enhancement to a loan program, which is intended to stabilize and strengthen property values in targeted areas of Baltimore City.
Maryland Affordable Housing Trust
The
Maryland Affordable Housing Trust is a charitable public corporation that was created by the Maryland General Assembly in 1992 to promote affordable housing throughout the State of Maryland. The Trust is directed by a Board of Trustees and is supported administratively by the Department of Housing and Community Development. The Trust is funded in part by a portion of the interest generated by title company escrow accounts.
The Trust promotes affordable housing for households earning less than 50 percent of area or statewide median income by:
- Funding capital costs of rental and ownership housing;
- Providing financial assistance for nonprofit-developer capacity building;
- Funding supportive services for occupants of affordable housing; and
- Funding operating expenses of housing developments.
Division of Finance
The Division of Finance provides critical departmental support through the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. The Chief Financial Officer is responsible for all financial activities of the Department. This includes functional oversight over Division of Finance and the financial activities of the Community Development Administration and the Maryland Housing Fund. The Division of Finance provides advice and technical support in fiscal matters to the Department’s Executive Staff, senior program directors and managers of the various program and support units. The Division of Finance oversees the financial management and central support services in the Department, providing financial, analytical, internal review and reporting; preparing and managing operating and capital budgets; accounting for the Department’s expenditures and revenues for budgetary and grant accounting; as well as preparing audited financial statements for the Maryland Housing Fund and the State-funded loan and grant programs; coordinating and providing procurement and purchasing services; and providing other support services to the Department, including facilities and fleet management, emergency preparedness, records retention, and telecommunications.
