There aren’t many subjects more divisive than housing in pricey Montgomery County, Maryland.

In a jurisdiction where median home sale prices now exceed $500,000 and more than three-quarters of low-income households are burdened by housing costs, the subject of new residential development — where it should go, where it shouldn’t, and who gets to live in it — has already emerged as a flashpoint in the 2022 race for the county’s top elected office.

Housing policy and land use are the clearest dividing lines between current County Executive Marc Elrich and his longtime rival At-Large Councilmember Hans Riemer, two of three Democrats who have announced runs for their party’s nomination next year. Both have attracted followings for their divergent opinions on how to address the county’s housing needs.

Riemer has favored loosening regulations and handing out tax breaks to entice more development to the jurisdiction, in addition to increasing affordable housing requirements for development in high-income areas. Elrich has cast doubt on those initiatives, saying they won’t produce a significant amount of affordable housing. And while Elrich increased funding for subsidized housing in the county’s 2022 budget, he has also said he doesn’t believe the county needs more middle-income housing or as much low-income housing as regional projections suggest.

Elrich drew criticism in 2019 for saying he opposed “knocking down existing affordable housing to build housing for millennials.”

“Historically, wealthy, white homeowners are the overwhelming preponderance of voters in primary elections, and those voters have housing,” says former Montgomery County Councilmember George Leventhal. “The anti-development, anti-growth movement has been powerful in county politics.”

Also joining the race is two-time Democratic hopeful David Blair, a wealthy Potomac businessman who lost to Elrich by 77 votes in the 2018 Democratic primary — a sign that his economic development focus resonated strongly with voters, particularly in the county’s wealthiest precincts. But Blair has said more about attracting business to Montgomery County than he has about housing affordability, and he has yet to announce a concrete housing agenda.

More candidates could still emerge before the February filing deadline, including Republican contenders unlikely to win in a county where only 15% of registered voters are Republicans. And the executive race isn’t the only important one for housing; the contest for Montgomery County Council is equally key, because the council has ultimate authority over land use and zoning.

The brewing race for the top job in Montgomery County comes amid a regional push for more housing. A coalition of local government officials agreed in 2019 that the D.C. area must create at least 320,000 new housing units by 2030 to meet demand, provide affordable homes for the workforce, and prevent home costs from marching ever higher. Most of that housing must be affordable to low- and middle-income households and located near mass transit or an “activity center,” the coalition said. Multiple local governments — including Montgomery County — pledged to help meet the goal.

As their campaigns ramp up, Blair, Elrich, and Riemer will be under pressure to address the county’s high housing costs without alienating civically engaged homeowners, who often oppose new housing construction where they live, says George Leventhal, a former Democratic councilmember who ran against Blair and Elrich in the 2018 primary.

“Historically, wealthy, white homeowners are the overwhelming preponderance of voters in primary elections, and those voters have housing,” Leventhal says. “The anti-development, anti-growth movement has been powerful in county politics.”

But the electorate also includes voters like Edmund Morris, a county native who says housing is one of his top priorities in the race. He says he’s watched some of his friends leave the jurisdiction because they couldn’t find medium-sized, affordably priced homes near transit.

“They have struggled mightily, and some of them have moved way out of the way, because there isn’t housing — or the housing stock is kind of ridiculous,” Morris says. “There are virtually no starter homes.”

That’s also a concern for Riemer, who has drawn support in the county from self-identified “YIMBYs” — short for “yes in my backyard” — who value mass transit, walkable neighborhoods, alternatives to single-family homes, and increased housing supply overall.

Sharp-tongued and unreserved in his criticism of Elrich, Riemer has repeatedly accused the county executive of siding with “NIMBYs,” or “not in my backyard” homeowners who fight new development because they fear it will lower their property values, increase traffic, crowd schools, complicate stormwater management, bring crime to suburban neighborhoods, or spoil scenic views. Riemer expresses little patience for that viewpoint.

“I think the days of broadly trying to fight development and stop housing — we’ve got to put that behind us,” Riemer says. “Our Washington region has been trying to come together and build political momentum to make difficult decisions on housing. And County Executive Elrich has put his arm out in front of that and said, ‘Not here.’ And that’s a big problem.”

But Riemer inspires suspicion among some progressive Democrats, who say his policies benefit the building industry more than cost-burdened residents. (D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who has pledged to build 36,000 new housing units by 2025, faces similar skepticism.)

“Riemer has answered to the developers’ desires,” says Ed Fischman, a co-chair with Our Revolution in Montgomery County, a Democratic socialist group that formed in the wake of Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential run. “He’s been really focused on creating more housing, but he’s not focused on creating more community for the residents. It’s housing that’s going to be really profitable for the developers.”

Elrich, an old-school Takoma Park progressive with roots in ’60s left-wing activism, has shot down Riemer’s housing policy proposals from his perch in the executive building.

When the council passed a Riemer-backed bill last year granting tax breaks to developers who build high-rise housing on top of Metro stations, Elrich vetoed it, calling it too expensive. The council overrode his veto. In 2019, when Riemer sought to implement a zoning change that allowed more residents to build tiny homes and in-law suites on their property, Elrich — who doesn’t have veto power over zoning changes — warned constituents it would “fundamentally alter” neighborhoods without creating much affordable housing. His position was supported by residents of Chevy Chase Village and other affluent areas, who worried the revision foretold an end to single-family communities. The council adopted the zoning measure unanimously.

“Some of the bills that have been passed through the council really seem to be aimed at getting [Elrich] to veto them and create political issues for Riemer to talk about in the upcoming race,” Fischman says.

While some “smart growth” proponents say various fees on new development drive up housing costs, Elrich has often said developers should pay higher taxes to offset impacts on county infrastructure and schools. The executive has also argued that government housing funds should target low-income residents who are most underserved by Montgomery County’s housing market, not people in higher income bands, who have more options. He speaks in favor of government-led approaches such as turning over public land to affordable housing — a strategy that has yielded some success — and he generally opposes giving incentives to for-profit homebuilders.

“[Riemer] is focused on giveaways to developers — as if that was the problem,” Elrich says.

But Elrich’s critics say he hasn’t offered many durable solutions to the shortage of affordable housing, or the low housing supply overall that’s driving up prices. Elrich opposed a nonbinding resolution the council adopted in 2019 to create 10,000 more housing units — most of them affordable — by 2030. Elrich said the county doesn’t have the money to pay for that much affordable housing, and that he planned to create enough high-paying jobs to cancel out the need for subsidized housing over time.

Elrich says the county’s finances have been too constrained for him to invest much more in affordable housing. “It’s kind of hard to change things — COVID has certainly interfered,” he says.

Montgomery County Planning Board Chair Casey Anderson, who spars frequently with Elrich over development issues, says he has trouble understanding where Elrich stands on housing.

“I’ve lost the thread,” Anderson says. “But I think it’s fair to say that he’s consistently been skeptical that we need to build much of anything.”

Former councilmember George Leventhal says Elrich’s approach could to lead to higher housing prices and more inequality.

“We have a shortage of housing in this region, and that shortage results in those of us lucky enough to own homes doing very well. It substantially increases our net worth year to year as the prices of our homes skyrocket,” Leventhal says. “So if leftists believe that they are somehow redistributing wealth by restricting housing supply, in fact, restricting housing supply benefits those who already have homes.”

Businessman David Blair has yet to probe these matters in his nascent second bid for the Democratic nomination in the executive race. But he has one big idea: He wants to more than double the amount that Montgomery County invests in affordable housing subsidies.

“I would do that in my first year,” Blair says.

Blair also supports the idea of “upzoning” — or allowing more housing density — in certain parts of the county. “[But] I would take a real balanced approach,” Blair says. “I mean, clearly, we can only upzone in areas where we have the infrastructure that can support it.”

The county executive does not have any direct control over zoning, but they can use their political heft to support or discourage certain zoning initiatives.

Blair, a former health care CEO, says his top priority will be luring more employers that make the county more attractive to housing development.

“We need to start creating good-paying jobs here,” Blair says. “No one’s going to invest in housing if we don’t have jobs. People want to work close to where they live.”

Rockville resident Edmund Morris says he hasn’t decided who he’ll vote for in next year’s primary. But his ears are open to any candidate who offers the most creative solutions to the housing problem. If people can’t find a place to live in Montgomery County, he says, the consequences are clear.

“People are going to leave,” Morris says. “They won’t have a choice. They will have to leave.”