Montgomery County Councilmember Andrew Friedson (D-Dist. 1) criticized the county’s rent control policies as well as fellow councilmember Will Jawando’s (D-At-large) statements regarding local real estate development during Thursday’s Greater Bethesda Chamber of Commerce annual real estate update meeting.
“If you say we don’t want your money, the likelihood is that someone who’s making investment decisions isn’t going to invest,” Friedson told a group of local businesspeople and real estate agents during the session at the Foxhill Residences in Bethesda that touched on the county’s housing crisis.
Friedson was referring to comments made by Jawando on March 16 at the Rockville Rent Stabilization Community Forum hosted by the Rockville Renters Coalition at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Rockville.
“People want to redline us because we won’t agree to spend your taxpayer dollars to give to someone so they can make 20% profit and everyone in that transaction can be a millionaire, except the person renting the housing or buying the housing,” Jawando said at the forum. “Then don’t come here.”
Jawando did not immediately respond to Bethesda Today’s request for comment via email Friday morning.
Also during the forum, a local developer said county policies have negatively impacted his company’s ability to gain financing for housing projects in the county.
“For the first time, CEOs of national real estate investment trusts … publicly said — and they’ve all been afraid to do this in the past — ‘We’re not investing in Montgomery County’,” said Chris Bruch, president and CEO of Donohoe Cos., one of the area’s largest general contractors that also has a development division.
Among other topics, speakers at Thursday’s forum spoke about the local housing crisis, in which low inventory has driven home prices out of reach for many buyers.
The issue of affordable housing is likely to be a major topic in the 2026 county executive race.
In May, Jawando announced he is running for county executive in 2026 to replace Marc Elrich, who cannot seek a third term because of term limits. Jawando was the second councilmember to announce he is running for the county’s top leadership post. Councilmember Evan Glass (D-At-large) announced his candidacy in March in an exclusive interview with Bethesda Today. Silver Spring resident and registered medical assistant Celeste Iroha (D) also filed to run for the seat in March.
Speculation about who will run to succeed Elrich has also centered on Friedson, who has raised more than $1 million, but has neither confirmed nor denied his candidacy. In March, he told Bethesda Today that he is focused on his work as a councilmember and that there will be “plenty of time” for politics later.
Friedson spoke at the Thursday event alongside Jane Fairweather, a long-time local real estate agent with Long & Foster. Fairweather joined Friedson and others at the meeting in saying that the county’s rent control policies are stymying residential growth.
“How are we going to produce the 63,000 units that [Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments] has said Montgomery County needs by 2040 if we have policies that push developers away?” Fairweather asked.
Fairweather was referring to the county’s rent stabilization law that Jawando championed with the support of six other councilmembers and Elrich that places a hard cap on landlords’ abilities to increase rent.
The law passed 7-4 in July of 2023, with Friedson being one of those who opposed the legislation.
“You can’t say that you’re for housing and then attack the people who actually build the housing,” Friedson said Thursday. “That just doesn’t work. You would never say we support food security, but I hate farmers.”
Fairweather’s sentiments were echoed by Bruch.
During his remarks, Bruch expressed frustration with the county’s rent control policy, but even more so with the part of its policy regarding housing that has become vacant, which he claimed makes it impossible for developers to renovate vacant properties and sell them for market value.
Bruch explained that the developers heavily rely on investors to fund their residential projects and recently there is little to no interest from investors.
“Developers put very little dough into these projects, maybe 5 [to] 10% of the equity in the entire equity stack,” Bruck said. “So we have to pitch Montgomery County… and none of them are interested in talking to us.”
