by Zafar Shah
Sandra is still homeless.1 She had to put her daughter in a friend’s care and live in her car. Nearly a year ago, she reached out to Maryland Legal Aid after her lease in Easton wasn’t renewed. The property manager told her she was being “uncooperative or argumentative,” but legally, no reason was required. Maryland is a “no cause” state, meaning landlords can refuse to renew a lease without justification. For Sandra and her daughter, that meant exile from their home and community.
After months of searching, Sandra kept hitting dead ends. Properties that accepted Section 8 vouchers were controlled by the same management that wanted her out. Other landlords required an income three times the rent. Maryland Legal Aid helped extend her housing voucher, but even in nearby counties, she couldn’t find a place. Her life unraveled. With no legal protection, we could only advise her to call the 988 Suicide and Crisis hotline.
Sandra’s story is not unique. For over 15 years, renters and advocates have pushed for Good Cause Eviction protections, which would require landlords to provide a valid reason—such as lease violations or plans to sell the property—before forcing a tenant out. In 2024, the Maryland House passed a version allowing local governments to adopt their own protections, but the bill stalled in the Senate. A promised workgroup never materialized, and renters like Sandra remain vulnerable.
Maryland policymakers are aware of the crisis. Since 2020, the General Assembly has passed over 20 renter protection bills, from banning income discrimination to requiring legal representation in eviction cases. But these measures have been incremental. No legislation has fundamentally changed the eviction process to prevent unjust displacements. Meanwhile, Governor Wes Moore has made housing a priority, citing Maryland’s 96,000-unit housing shortage. But one question looms over this debate: does protecting renters come at the cost of building more housing?
Some argue that strengthening renter protections will discourage investment in Maryland’s housing market, slowing new development. But the reality is that Good Cause Eviction is not a barrier to housing growth—it is a tool that ensures stability for renters while enabling a healthier rental market. A more secure rental environment helps communities thrive, reducing displacement and fostering long-term tenancies that benefit both landlords and tenants. Policies that provide renters with security do not prevent housing construction; they create a more predictable, stable market that encourages responsible development.
Evidence from other cities shows that balancing tenant protections with pro-housing policies leads to stronger, more resilient housing markets. While increasing supply is essential, simply building more units does not guarantee affordability or prevent displacement. In cities that have prioritized rapid development without protections, lower-income renters have been pushed out, eroding the very communities that new housing was meant to serve.
Yet in Maryland, opposition to Good Cause Eviction is built on the premise that any form of renter protection will slow housing growth. This argument is misleading. Landlords and developers have already adapted to new regulations like source-of-income protections and right-to-counsel laws without abandoning the market. Ensuring basic stability for renters is not an extreme policy—it is a necessary step toward solving the housing crisis in a way that works for all stakeholders.
This year, Senate workgroup discussions on Good Cause Eviction have leaned toward a compromise: granting renters lease renewal protections but eliminating hard-fought local rent stabilization ordinances in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. In other words, tenants could either have lease security or rent stability—but not both.
This false choice is unacceptable. Renters cannot afford to wait years for the trickle-down benefits of a housing surplus while facing immediate threats of eviction. Allowing local governments to determine the level of renter protections that suit their communities is the only fair solution. Maryland lawmakers face a simple decision: will they protect families like Sandra’s, or will they continue prioritizing landlord profits over housing stability?
For thousands of Marylanders on the brink of homelessness, the answer cannot wait another year.
1Sandra is a pseudonym of a Maryland Legal Aid client who allowed us to share her story.
Zafar Shah is the Advocacy Director for the Human Right to Housing at Maryland Legal Aid.
