2025 Legislative Session

Maryland's 2025 Legislative Session is here!

Over the next 90 days, we’ll advocate for budget items and policies that end homelessness through increasing access to health care, harm reduction, and housing justice. 

Our priorities are...

• informed by our mission, core values and principles of racial equity & inclusion.
• amplified in partnership with like-minded coalitions including Renters United Maryland, CASA, the Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition and the Trans Rights Advocacy Coalition.
• driven by client experience and on-the-ground staff perspective.  
• able to move when we have leaders in the legislature who are driven to act.
• influenced by the issues that gain momentum as the session progresses.

Stay tuned for more specific bills we support as they get introduced in the weeks ahead.

Access to health care

• Establish Community Health Worker Appreciation Day 

  • This bill, first introduced in 2024, will establish May 8 as Community Health Worker Appreciation Day; and lift up the importance of CHWs in improving access to care and support. The bill passed the House in 2024, but did not pass the Senate.

Harm reduction practices

• Allow Overdose Prevention Sites (OPS)

  • In 2024, The Baltimore Banner and New York Times uncovered unprecedented rates of overdose deaths in Baltimore - with Black men between 50-70 hardest hit. We support the introduction of Overdose Prevention Sites in Maryland, where people can use substances with immediate access to life saving interventions, medical care, emotional support and non-judgmental, therapeutic relationships.
    • Read a Q&A with RN Kathy Pretl and Senior Peer Recovery Specialist Vicky Stewart about their visit to an operating Overdose Prevention Site in NYC. 
    • Watch MAT RN Sarah Barry testify (around 1:53:00) and watch Senior Peer Recovery Specialist Vicky Stewart testify (around 1:04:18)
    • Watch Harm Reduction Manager Molly Greenberg, RN testify in favor of OPS (starting at 57:36). “In this system, what we do falls short of what people need and deserve. These deaths are preventable, and every single one is a policy failure.”

• Decriminalize Drug Paraphernalia 

  • We support decriminalizing the possession of items that could be used to consume drugs, such as syringes and needles. This saves lives, reduces barriers to housing and employment and prevents the spread of infectious diseases. With our partners at Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition (BHRC), we successfully advocated to pass this bill in 2021. The Governor vetoed it and the General Assembly refused to take up overriding the veto. In 2023, HB173 passed in the House but did not make it through the Senate.
    • Watch Medical Provider Katharine Billipp testify (around 2:44:40)

Housing justice

• Enable local "Good Cause" Eviction Prevention

  • Helps provide renters with the protections they need from unjust, discriminatory, and arbitrary eviction. In 2024, the bill passed the House but did not pass the Senate.
    • Read District 20 Representative Jheanelle Wilkins' Op Ed supporting Just Cause laws in The Baltimore Banner
    • Take Action: Renter's United Maryland is asking organizations to sign onto a petition in support of Good Cause legislation.

See our 2024 priorities and where they landed

Share your story, experience or perspective

• Stories can be in the form of an email, a phone call that’s transcribed, a pre-recorded video or a recorded Teams meeting.

• You can make a difference by sharing your own experience from a staff and/or personal perspective, as a client or supporter.
• You can encourage others to share their experiences by referring them to advocacy@hchmd.org or directly helping to record their story.  
• Staff: Reach out to Director of Public Policies Joanna Diamond with any questions.
• Learn about how to find your legislator, search for a bill, and generally engage during the Maryland General Assembly session here.

How your story helps

• We can include them in written testimony that will influence the hearings.

• You might have an opportunity to share your story directly with legislators as part of hearings.
• We can compile written and recorded stories and share with legislators after the hearings to advocate for their votes in favor of the bill.

"Policies must be driven by the expertise of people with lived experience. Staff and clients sharing real experiences with legislators is the most impactful way to influence legislation. Together, we can make a more just Maryland.”

- Joanna Diamond, Director of Public Policy