Safe and Healthy Homes for All Act

EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
amendment.
*hb1218*

HOUSE BILL 1218
C9, N1 6lr1958
CF SB 941
By: Delegates Wilkins and Phillips
Introduced and read first time: February 11, 2026
Assigned to: Economic Matters
Committee Report: Favorable with amendments
House action: Adopted
Read second time: March 9, 2026

CHAPTER ______

AN ACT concerning 1

Department of Housing and Community Development – Severe Health and 2
Safety Risk Properties – Intervention Plan 3
Safe and Healthy Homes for All Act 4

FOR the purpose of requiring the Department of Housing and Community Development, 5
Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs, in collaboration with the Attorney General, 6
to develop a plan to identify certain severe health and safety risk properties in the 7
State and take related actions; requiring the Department to submit the plan and 8
certain recommendations to the Governor and the General Assembly on or before a 9
certain date; requiring the Department to publi sh a certain list publicly on the 10
Department’s website; and generally relating to severe health and safety risk 11
properties. 12

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 13
That: 14

(a) (1) In this section the following words have the meanings indicated. 15

(2) “Office” means the Office of Tenant and Landlord Affairs in the 16
Department of Housing and Community Development. 17

(3) (i) “Severe health and safety risk property” means a rental property 18
that routinely fails to meet basic health and safety standards. 19

(ii) “Severe health and safety risk property” includes: 20
2 HOUSE BILL 1218

1. a rental property that is in continued noncompliance with 1
local housing codes, resulting in chronic unsafe housing conditions; 2

2. a severely distressed rental property; 3

3. a rental property that has repeated cycles of violations, 4
citations, and failures to remediate; and 5

4. a persistently hazardous rental property. 6

(b) This section applies only to properties with 50 or more units. 7

(c) It is the in tent of the General Assembly that the Office focus on the most 8
severe, serious, and high–volume violations and that the planned interventions be limited 9
to the most severe health and safety risk properties. 10

(d) (1) The Office, in collaboration with the A ttorney General, shall develop a 11
plan to: 12

(1) (i) identify severe health and safety risk properties in the State; 13

(2) (ii) expand the structure of the Office to address severe health and 14
safety risk properties in the State; and 15

(3) (iii) provide effective interventions to mitigate predatory, 16
noncompliant, and negligent landlords of multi–unit rental properties in the State. 17

(2) The Office shall communicate and coordinate with counties and 18
municipalities in interventions and identify ways to leverage county resources. 19

(3) The Office shall seek input from renters, renter advocates, property 20
owners, housing providers, housing associations, and other stakeholders to develop the plan 21
required under paragraph (1) of this subsection. 22

(c) (e) The plan required under subsection (b) (d) of this section shall: 23

(1) create a process for identifying: 24

(i) severe health and safety properties; and 25

(ii) predatory landlord practices; 26

(2) develop methods for the referral of properties to the Office, including: 27

(i) by residents that currently live in a property; 28

HOUSE BILL 1218 3

(ii) through coordination with municipal and county agencies; 1

(iii) by tenant associations; and 2

(iv) by other organizations that serve renters and communities; 3

(3) determine appropriate interventions to protect the health and safety of 4
residents living in severe health and safety risk properties, including: 5

(i) financial consequences, fines, and liability for investigation and 6
intervention costs; 7

(ii) legal interventions such as injunctions and legal proceedings; 8

(iii) required tenant escrow; 9

(iv) the issuance of corrective action plans with deadlines; 10

(v) mandatory follow–up inspections; 11

(vi) required timelines for addressing violations; 12

(vii) mandatory pest eradication plans; 13

(viii) structural repair requirements; 14

(ix) temporary relocation plans for tenants in units that are unsafe 15
for occupancy; 16

(x) requirements for landlords to submit remediation plans and 17
records of completed repairs; and 18

(xi) any other mitigations; and 19

(4) identify costs and options for containing costs, including leveraging 20
collaboration with the county or local housing agency and the utilization of county 21
inspectors versus the hiring of State inspectors; and 22

(5) make recommendations for statutory changes to provide effective 23
mitigation and relief for tenants. 24

(d) (f) (1) On or before August 31, 2027, the Department of Housing and 25
Community Development shall submit the plan and recommendations developed under this 26
section to the Governor and, in accordance with § 2–1257 of the State Government Article, 27
the General Assembly. 28

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(2) On or before December 31, 2027, the Department of Housing and 1
Community Development shall submit a report to t he Governor and, in accordance with § 2
2–1257 of the State Government Article, the General Assembly that includes: 3

(i) the properties identified under subsection (d) of this section; 4

(ii) the types of violations identified; 5

(iii) the reason a pr operty is included in the plan required under 6
subsection (d) of this section; 7

(iv) any interventions undertaken and the status of violations as a 8
result of the plan; and 9

(v) any other helpful information. 10

(g) The Department of Housing and Community Development shall publish the 11
list of severe health and safety risk properties, including the names of properties, publicly 12
on the Department’s website. 13

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect July 14
1, 2026. It shall remain effective for a period of 1 year and 6 months and, at the end of 15
December 31, 2027, this Act, with no further action required by the General Assembly, shall 16
be abrogated and of no further force and effect. 17

Approved:
________________________________________________________________________________
Governor.
________________________________________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Delegates.
________________________________________________________________________________
President of the Senate.