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We Built This House

 


We want our kids to have the best. The best neighborhoods, the best schools, the best educational experiences, the best hobbies and activities, the best everything. 

We hope all of that prepares them for the best colleges and/or career opportunities. We hope they will have happy lives.

But we don’t want them to have homes. At least, not anywhere in Columbia/HoCo. 

Before you protest, take a look at this listing on Redfin.



I bumped into this listing on Bluesky along with commentary from Barbara Samuels, a knowledgeable Fair Housing and Affordable Housing attorney in Baltimore:

10,000 sq ft, 6BRs, 7BA, 4 car garage, guest house & pool. Must be small apt building & ADU right? No, not allowed! It is what passes for single family outside the HoCo PFA in western Ellicott City. How does it make sense to allow this use [for] 5 valuable acres but not apartments?

I’ll be honest with you. Big, fancy houses houses like this used to spark my imagination. Now they just make me sad.

I’ve heard a million reasons why we should hate developers, distrust renters, and “preserve the beauty of the land.”

And so we have created a community where most of our own kids can’t find an affordable rental, much less a starter house. And we are enduring an economy where many of our kids are working multiple jobs in “the gig economy” - - without benefits - - because traditional career paths are less and less available to them.

These are the kids that we made sure had the best everything, remember? But we didn’t make it a high priority for our communities to create and sustain affordable housing opportunities which include apartments.  If we had, it would be there now.

And maybe that’s because we thought rental housing was for other people and so we didn’t trouble ourselves very much about it. But, even if it’s just for other people, it’s still important. For example:

I recently read a question on a local Reddit from a healthcare professional about to move here to work at the hospital. They stated their housing budget and asked for advice on where they should look for an apartment. Almost every answer said there were no apartments in their price range. Period.

Even if your kids aren’t trying to find a nearby apartment, perhaps you’re interested in making sure we have enough qualified healthcare workers? They have to live somewhere, you know.

This post from State Senator Clarence Lam reminded me that the Horizon Foundation is spearheading an initiative to address the crisis in housing availability and affordability. 



Images from Clarence Lam social media 


States throughout the nation are facing housing crises and Maryland is no exception.  That's why I was glad to join housing affordability advocates from across the state at the 2026 Housing Justice Summit in Columbia.  This is a challenging issue, but we have some great people and groups working on it!

Some of those great people and groups partnering with the Horizon Foundation:

  • Bridges to Housing Stability
  • Building Families for Children
  • Columbia Housing Center
  • Community Action Council of Howard County
  • Grassroots Crisis Intervention 
  • Luminus 
  • Maryland Inclusive Housing
  • MakingChange
To learn more, check out the Horizon Foundation website information on Housing Justice  and Renter’s Rights.

Whether they are your kids our someone else’s - - and no matter how old they are - -  the reality is that more and more people are working multiple jobs, don’t have healthcare or retirement benefits, and can’t find adequate, stable, affordable housing. 

Back when we were trying to give our own kids the best we could possible provide for them - - did we forget one of the most essential things of all?


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  1. Julia A. McCreadyAugust 17, 2026 at 5:00 AM

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