Frederick City Council Meeting: Housing Authority Presentation and Minutes Approval - April 14, 2026
Frederick City Council Meeting: Housing Authority Presentation and Minutes Approval - April 14, 2026
The Frederick City Council met on April 14, 2026, to approve minutes from previous meetings and receive a presentation from Angie Lawler, Executive Director of the Housing Authority of the City of Frederick (HACF), on the authority's development programs, including the redevelopment of Lucas Village into the Mosaic community.
Consent Calendar
- Approved minutes from February 10, February 24, and March 24, 2026. Motion by Councilmember Shackelford, seconded by Councilmember Ample Ranny. All in favor.
Discussion Items
- Angie Lawler presented on the HACF's role as an independent public housing authority, reporting to HUD, and its development activities. She explained AMI (Area Median Income) and how affordability is defined, noting Frederick is part of the Washington, DC metro area, which inflates local AMI.
- Lawler detailed completed developments: Catoctin View (76 units, 100% voucher holders at 30% AMI), Foundry Square (96 senior units, 56 family units, using a twin deal of 4% and 9% LIHTC), and Madison on North Market (60 units, ground broken March 2026). She highlighted partnerships with guarantors to share risk.
- The redevelopment of Lucas Village into Mosaic: Lucas Village, a public housing community built in 1972, was demolished due to sinkhole risks and other safety concerns (life, health, safety). 88 households were relocated with vouchers. Lawler noted difficulty finding housing for voucher holders: only 12 of 62 communities contacted had units below the voucher payment threshold, and 30 of 30 new vouchers in a previous year were returned unused. The new Mosaic will have 221 units (one, two, three bedrooms), four-story buildings with balconies, art theme, fitness center, dog park, and an arts walk. It will be within a floodplain/sinkhole area but engineered with piles to solid rock. Construction timeline: expected completion February 2028, leasing spring 2028.
- Funding structure: $84 million from 9 sources, including $2 million from city and county (city $1M pre-development, $1.2M waived impact fees). Lawler emphasized that city contributions leverage $20 per $1.
- Lawler suggested ways the city can support affordable housing: waiver of fees (with grants to maintain basis boost), school capacity planning (family housing hindered by school capacity), zoning flexibility (e.g., parking reductions for low-income households), and establishing an ombudsperson to streamline processes. She also advocated for criteria in city funding, such as requiring rents below the voucher payment threshold.
- Council members discussed AMI, the need for family housing (senior units lease up slower), and the importance of supportive services for extremely low-income tenants. Councilmember noted the need for data to establish a local AMI (like the ALICE threshold). Councilmember asked about transportation and food access at Mosaic; Lawler confirmed it is a food desert and suggested grocery store or transit solutions.
- Lawler stated that the HACF waiting list for public housing has been closed for two years with over 4,000 names, indicating immense need at 30% AMI. She emphasized that lower-income tenants require more supportive services.
Key Outcomes
- The council approved the minutes for three prior meetings unanimously.
- No formal votes were taken on the presentation. The council received the information and discussed potential policy adjustments, including parking requirements, fee waivers, and funding criteria.
- The presentation highlighted the need for continued city support, including pre-development funding and streamlined processes to avoid delays that increase costs.
Meeting Transcript
Pledge allegiance to the flag of the question. Well, great. First, uh, we need to approve minutes for February the 10th, February the 24th, and March the 24th. Is there a motion so moved? Is there a second? Seconded. Moved by Councilmember Shackelford, second by Councilmember Ample Ranny. All in favor, raise your hand. And welcome to Angie Lawler from the Housing Authority of the City of Frederick, who's going to share with us information about the HACF. So please come on up to the table and tell us more. Great. Can you hear me okay? And bring it. Bring it up to your lips, and that way it'll be audible. Perfect. Thank you. Excellent. That sounds good. Oh, it's weird. Um thank you for inviting me. I'm Angie Lawler. I'm the executive director of the housing authority of the City of Frederick. I am happy to come and share some things about the housing authority and about our development program with you today. Um I'm gonna start by talking about the housing authority in general. One of the questions I was asked to um answer was kind of how the housing authority and the city are related, how we interact with each other. Uh the housing authority is an independent public housing authority. It's established under Maryland law, and we report directly to HUD. Um we're where we are subject to federal laws, state laws, and HUD provides oversight for our agency. Um, voucher programs that are funded by HUD. We also have a family services department, which is funded by about a dozen different grants from local grantors to the state to the city to the county. Um some grants even come from HUD, and that department is dedicated to serving the tenants who are receiving housing subsidy of some sort. We also have an active development department. We are one of the largest local nonprofit developers in Frederick, and I'll tell you more about that as the presentation goes on. Um our purpose is up there to provide safe, stable, and affordable housing. Our goal is to serve the people that live in that housing. We are more than just buildings and bricks and mourner. We we see our agency as very people oriented and service-oriented. Um we have some folks who live in our communities who will probably live there forever. There's a reason that they're there. And we have some folks who are there just temporarily. It's a stepping stone. They need a place and with a little extra help and support, they move through the housing continuum and out of the HUD subsidized housing into the affordable housing that we develop, and from there they move into market rate. So that's one of the reasons we became developers is we saw a very big gap between the lowest income that we serve and market rate. It was just too big of a leap for folks to make, and that's where affordable housing lands in that gap. I wouldn't say it closes the gap, but it's a it's a tool that we have access to. It's the one that we're using and trying to participate in to do what we can to keep the continuum moving. Um since 2021, we've completed two new affordable housing developments, and we have two more that are beginning construction this year. One became began construction last month, and the other will begin this fall. In total, more than 500 new affordable housing units have come into Frederick through our development program since 2021. Um these are some pictures of some of our developments.
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