Housing & Community Development

Government Agencies


The Department of Housing and Community Development is comprised of three governmental agencies:

County Chartered Department

The Housing Authority and the Redevelopment Authority are quasi-governmental agencies, whereas the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) serves as the County chartered department responsible for the administration of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) entitlement programs, including Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), HOME and the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) at the local level.

Neighborhood Design Center Impacts Prince George's County Communities


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North Brentwood - After
North Brentwood - Before

 Since 1968, the Neighborhood Design Center (NDC) has provided pro bono planning and design services to over 3,000 community initiatives that have helped communities build new playgrounds, reclaim vacant lots and abandoned buildings, revitalize commercial districts, create community master plans, and beautify their neighborhoods.

Community Design Works, a program of NDC, partners with resident organizations, schools, and local nonprofits with ideas to improve their neighborhoods. Their services focus on design in the built environment, things like upgrading streetscaping, transforming vacant lots, revamping storefronts, space planning, and developing park designs.                       

NDC is a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) recipient and uses its funding to spearhead local design projects throughout Prince George's County.

Check out one of their projects in North Brentwood:  (Before Photo: Above; After Photo: Top)

Ten years ago, NDC designed a memorial garden for the members of the North Brentwood community who gave their lives in service to the military. In the years following, some maintenance concerns arose. With previous success, NDC was contacted again to revisit the original site design and address parks street visibility, cleanliness, and provide a new look for the place. 

The new design utilized an understory plant palette and lighting to provide an easily maintained, beautiful, and safe park space for the residents of North Brentwood. 

The park has retained many of the trees from the original design including some mature Maple, Oak and Eastern Red Bud trees that help to define significant areas on site. Showy, low-level, understory perennials were added to address site line issues and to provide pops of spring color. Upkeep of the space was designed to be no more than a conventional lawnmower. As of July 2018, the Town of North Brentwood had allocated budget for implementing the design and was in the process of hiring a contractor. 
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