In Montgomery County’s third council district primary race, all three Democratic candidates agree the lack of affordable housing is one of the biggest issues affecting residents. What they don’t agree on is the way to fix it.

Izola Shaw, who serves on the Rockville City Council, is a stalwart advocate of rent stabilization, having led an unsuccessful movement to implement it in Rockville. Gaithersburg Mayor Jud Ashman isn’t a fan of rent control policies and favors increasing the county’s housing supply through development. And Allison Eriksen, a political novice and former federal worker, wants to bring her experience as a renter and a homeowner to the council and make more housing available quickly.

Ricky Mui, a Republican running for the District 3 seat, did not respond to a request for comment.

This debate over how to fix the housing plight in the county’s third council district, which includes portions of Rockville and Gaithersburg, is a microcosm of a countywide struggle. A poll conducted by The Banner last year found more than 8 in 10 respondents felt the county’s lack of affordable housing is a problem.

According to the Office of Management and Budget, an estimated 23% of Montgomery County renters pay 50% or more of their monthly income on housing. And, according to census data, more than 32% of households in the county are considered cost burdened, meaning they pay 30% or more of their income for housing.

Shaw, who rents an apartment in Rockville and owns a rental property in Silver Spring, said addressing affordability amid federal cuts is crucial for the district.

“We’re fighting for stable communities, especially now, when people have lost their jobs,” said Shaw, who was laid off from the National Institutes of Health in mass cuts by the Trump administration. “We’re scientists, we’re researchers, and we’re struggling with paying rent, and we have a federal government that’s really hostile.”

Rockville’s rent stabilization battle

The county passed a rent stabilization law in 2023, but it doesn’t apply to the municipalities within the county — including Gaithersburg, Rockville and Takoma Park. That’s when Shaw decided to make the issue the cornerstone of her work on the council. She started knocking on the doors of the renters in her community.

One of those renters, Grant Samms, was surprised to see a City Council member at his door. He told her he was frustrated with rent prices but didn’t see himself as an activist. After Shaw left, Samms decided to attend meetings with a coalition of people that became known as Rockville Renters United.

“There’s a lot of struggle that’s not being addressed or is being exacerbated,” Samms said. “I needed to get involved.”

According to Zillow, the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Rockville is $2,550. For a one-bedroom apartment, it’s $1,964.

Shaw encouraged dozens of Rockville renters like Samms to show up to meetings to lobby the City Council to take up the issue. Those meetings were intense, with renters and developers expressing frustration over the multiyear debate.

In July 2025, a motion brought forward by Shaw to address the issue at the city level failed 5-2. Shaw recalled being frustrated and feeling developers had swayed her colleagues.

“There is this narrative about supply, demand and economics being very simple. But I have my master’s in economics. It’s more complex than that,” Shaw said. “It comes down to believing housing as a human right, seeing housing as a human right, or seeing it as a commodity, and recognizing that everyone needs housing.”

Brian Anleu, the vice president of government affairs for the Apartment & Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington, an organization representing landlords and developers that holds significant lobbying power in the county, said the organization’s political action committee endorsed Ashman in large part because of Shaw’s focus on rent stabilization.

“[Shaw] tried to force the issue, drive turnout and force the industry into an agreement, into something that we just do not support,” Anleu said.

In the council’s July 2025 vote, the majority of members didn’t just vote against rent stabilization. They barred any discussion or action on the issue for the rest of the year.

Shaw said she believes her colleagues care and could come around to her view, but she is frustrated that votes like this one temporarily curtailed efforts for collaboration and compromise.

The development debate

Ashman wants to see what can be done to tweak the county’s existing law.

“[Rent stabilization] has brought multifamily rental development to a screeching halt in Montgomery County,” Ashman said. “It’s early, and the sample size is still small, but the indication so far is that the only projects that are able to move forward are ones that are heavily subsidized by the government.”

Developers have cited construction costs and increasingly low returns on investment as the most significant barriers to building. But they have also said some county policies, including rent stabilization, discourage development.

The law’s proponents counter that the county issued more multifamily housing permits in 2024 than it did in 2023, when the law passed. And they say the permitting decline coincided with a regional contraction brought on by high interest rates, returns demanded by investors, construction costs and more.

In 2025 the county issued permits for 602 multifamily units, and in 2026 it has permitted 801, according to data from the Department of Housing and Community Affairs.

Some county developers have argued stabilizing rental costs makes development more expensive, which discourages new housing construction.

Carrie Kisicki, Maryland housing advocacy manager for the Coalition for Smarter Growth, an organization that lobbies for affordable housing and transit policies, said a “constructive approach” to addressing housing affordability is creating policies that support renters while addressing the need for more housing.

“Rent pricing policy can provide stability to tenants who are facing high rents and risk of displacement,” she said. “But, at the same time, part of the reason that prices are being driven up is that we have a pretty serious housing shortage in the county.”

Shaw, who works for the county’s Housing Opportunities Commission, is frustrated by the perception that rent control stifles development. She believes both approaches can coexist, and that’s the mindset she wants to bring to the County Council.

“We need to continue to make sure that our private sector is providing housing. We need that supply,” Shaw said. “But, at the end of the day, we’re not just building housing just to create units. We’re building housing for the people living inside of those units.”

A lower-profile candidate, Eriksen is also a federal worker who lost her job in the DOGE cuts. No longer employed at USAID, she decided to run for council because she’s concerned not enough is being done to keep former federal workers and their families in the county.

She supports increasing the housing supply — particularly around transit. She owns her home, but as a Gaithersburg resident and former renter, she’s frustrated that the county’s rent stabilization policy doesn’t affect her community.

“I pay county taxes, so I’d like it to benefit me if the county does something good,” she said.

Ashman favors focusing on boosting renter assistance programs rather than rent stabilization. He said the most important thing the county can do is increase its housing supply, and he’s supported countywide initiatives such as More Housing Now, a legislative package intended to increase the supply of middle-income housing.

“My kids can’t afford to live in Montgomery County currently, and I think that’s the case for a lot of people,” he said. “Housing comes down to a calculation of supply and demand. And, for a long, long time, demand has been outpacing supply, and prices are high, and we need to do more to increase the supply. That’s the only sustainable way to make housing affordable.”

But, for some renters like Samms, this doesn’t feel like enough support. Although he largely supports an increase in the county’s housing supply, he said he is skeptical of Ashman because of his support from groups like AOBA. He said he worries Ashman wouldn’t do enough for renters.

“There needs to be more support for people to stay in our community before they’re in eviction court,” Samms said.

Mike English, a renter and county housing advocate, said he wants council members to take a holistic view of the debate and not stop at one project or policy as the silver bullet.

“We’re a progressive place and that’s well and good, but if we can’t protect people who can’t afford to live here, does that matter?” he said.

Regardless of the election’s outcome, the new District 3 council member won’t have control over the municipalities. But they will have a say in how the county operates during a growing and polarizing housing crisis.

“It is very difficult to disappoint 200 emotional people in front of you,” Ashman said. “But, when you want to make a substantive change to things like what we need in this county, you’re gonna have to do stuff that’s going to go against some voices.”