SALISBURY, MD – Mayor Jake Day announced that Salisbury’s “Here is Home” housing expansion incentive initiative will bring 8,100 new housing units online in the next 5 years – more than the total number of homes added in Wicomico County in the past 22 years. The proposed construction represents a $1.4 Billion-dollar expansion of the city’s existing $800 Million-dollar residential base – a 175% increase.
Part of the Here is Home Comprehensive Housing Initiative, the housing expansion incentive offers waivers for connection fees, site fees, building permits, and water/sewer fees on all new single-family, multi-family, duplex, townhouse apartment, assisted living, senior living, group care, and condominium construction projects, provided they will be shovel-in-the-ground no later than October, 2023. At the close of the application period this past February 28, Salisbury’s Department of Infrastructure and Development had received plans for over 5,000 apartment units, 161 assisted-living units, 376 duplexes, almost 1,400 single-family detached homes, 600 townhomes, and over 400 units that will become either townhomes or apartments depending upon future demand.
“Salisbury has already seen the benefit of successful construction incentives,” said Mayor Day. “5 years ago, in partnership with the City Council, we implemented an impact fee moratorium that became the mainspring for the development of Hunter’s Crest – the first new home development inside city limits in over a decade. What we’re seeing today, with the overwhelming success of the Here is Home incentive, is that same approach writ large – even more incentive in an even hotter market.
In the six months since the unveiling of Here is Home, demand for housing in the city has continued to climb. With supply leaner than ever, and with the announcement this past January of Salisbury’s state-leading 25% increase in property valuation over the last assessment period*, the construction incentive couldn’t have come at a better time for a city in the midst of its biggest-ever growth spurt.
Mayor Day added, “Right now, there’s a newly recruited internal medicine doctor at Tidal Health, making a great salary with a bright future ahead, signing the mortgage paperwork for their new home in Milton, Delaware, because after 4 months of searching, no house came available in Salisbury. The jobs are here. The culture is here. The recreation, the opportunity – right here. The overwhelming success of the Here is Home housing expansion incentive is proof positive that the market is ready to meet the demand, and the City of Salisbury is going to make sure that happens.”
