Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett this weekend joined Montgomery County Habitat for Humanity to dedicating the final twelve homes of a 24 town home development at Linganore Woods in Burtonsville.

“Montgomery County is proud to be a partner with Habitat for Humanity in providing homeownership opportunities for these hard working Habitat families,” said County Executive Isiah Leggett at the groundbreaking. “This is the first time Habitat has undertaken the construction of so many units at one place – a small village of affordable housing here in northeastern Montgomery County.

“Linganore Woods provides a great example of how many programs we have to apply to accomplish affordable housing. The land on which Linganore Woods is built was provided to satisfy the Moderately Priced Dwelling Unit requirement for a nearby development.

“The County’s Housing Initiative Fund (HIF) provided a forgivable loan of $149,000. That’s in addition to the $694,000 in HIF funding for the first phase of twelve townhomes. The Maryland Affordable Housing Trust contributed $100,000. And the residents themselves and other volunteers contributed over $500,000 in construction labor.

“And I’m proud to say that the County has even offered hands-on assistance. Five DHCA housing code inspectors were out here last weekend drywalling, painting, and putting up shelving in some of the homes.

“Affordable housing has been one of my highest priorities since I took office. I’ve increased the annual funding for the Housing Initiative from $20 million just a few years ago to $53 million in this current fiscal year. Our increased funding makes it possible to assist more affordable developments like Linganore Woods.

“My goal is to make sure that we have housing opportunities for anyone who wants to or needs to live in Montgomery County. Thanks to partners like Habitat for Humanity, our job is a little easier than it would have been. Congratulations to everyone who contributed to making the dreams of these 12 households come true.”