The proposed 56-unit affordable housing development in Towson has survived court challenges, loud opposition from concerned neighbors and legislation meant to weaken its standing.

Now the embattled project, Red Maple Place, faces another roadblock. The developer, contending with a funding gap, has asked Baltimore County for a $2 million loan, a request council members will review at a public meeting Tuesday and vote on later this month.

The developer, Homes for America, an Annapolis-based nonprofit that specializes in affordable housing production, began seeking approvals for a new apartment building adjacent to Historic East Towson in 2018. In the years since — after fending off legal fights and watching interest rates, insurance and construction costs soar in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic — its mission to offer more people a chance at living in Towson has grown more expensive.

In a rare interview, Dana Johnson, Homes for America’s president and CEO, said the organization remains committed to seeing Red Maple Place through and will continue to seek additional funding even if the council rejects it.

“It would just be so frustrating to just walk away from how close we are,” Johnson said.

But, Johnson added, a funding denial could set the project’s timeline back further. Baltimore County has already allocated $2.1 million to Red Maple Place, and it also won competitive low-income housing tax credits from the state.

In 2018, Homes for America began the process of acquiring two parcels, both more than an acre in size, between East Joppa Road and East Pennsylvania Avenue, to the east of Fairmount Avenue. Almost immediately, its plans to develop the parcel closest to East Joppa Road set off disagreements with neighboring residents, including in Historic East Towson, where some residents descend from formerly enslaved people who settled after the Civil War.

Neighbors have long argued that the proposal would add more density, disruption and environmental hazards than the area could withstand. Homes For America, meanwhile, has held that the location, already zoned to fit an apartment building, would benefit from more affordably priced housing.

Red Maple Place would also help the county meet the terms of a voluntary consent agreement with the federal government to add 1,000 new units of affordable housing in specific areas by 2027. The 2016 deal settled a housing discrimination lawsuit that argued the county historically concentrated where it permitted affordable housing.

Of Red Maple Place’s 56 units, 50 would be reserved for people with low incomes — between 30% and 60% of the area median income, or no more than about $54,000 a year for a two-person household. The other six would be leased at market rates.

Michele Yendall, one of the neighbors who joined the legal action against Red Maple Place, said her opposition never centered on the building’s affordability, as some have alleged. Rather, she and other condominium owners have spent heavily to prevent water damage at the neighboring Harris Hill complex and fear more development next door will worsen stormwater runoff.

Yendall also thinks the neighborhood already has enough affordable options and said the county would be better off if affordability were more dispersed. She hopes the council denies the latest funding request.

“It’s just a lousy piece of property to put anything on,” Yendall said. “It’s very disappointing, it’s just wrong, and it’s a bad piece of property for anything.”

In court, the parties largely quibbled over a 2020 council resolution that tacked an additional review component onto the development. Community members argued that the resolution was meant to reduce the scope and size of the project, effectively killing it for good; Baltimore County Circuit Court Judge Andrew A. Battista, and later a panel of appellate court judges, ruled that the resolution did not have that effect, allowing Red Maple Place to proceed.

Homes for America’s Johnson noted that the project underwent “rigorous” study by county agencies and was found in compliance with regulations, including environmental. She said the project includes plans to capture excess runoff and reduce flooding. And following legislation from the council, the Maryland Department of the Environment also reviewed the project’s potential impact on the wetlands and forested area, and did not find any adverse effects.

Johnson said she understands the community has withstood numerous “negative impacts” over the years, including the construction of a Baltimore Gas and Electric substation, which involved tearing down some historic homes. But she said Homes for America would be a “good neighbor.”

“It’s important to deliver housing in this housing crisis —important for the future of the county, and the people who will live in this building,” Johnson said. “We don’t agree that a four-story apartment for seniors and people with disabilities is a negative for the neighborhood.”

New families also would take advantage of Red Maple, Johnson said, as well as young adults who want to work in Towson. In all, Johnson said, Red Maple Place is expected to cost more than $20 million.

Pro-housing advocates have kept a close eye on Red Maple Place as Maryland and the rest of the nation grapple with historic housing supply and affordability challenges. Though polling shows strong support among voters for more affordable housing options, and more government intervention in the matter, council members have moved to stall, limit or stop several housing projects in the county.

Some members have said constituents’ opinions about housing are far more nuanced than what polls suggest.

Baltimore County Councilman Mike Ertel, who represents the district, previously told WYPR that he believed Red Maple Place had grown too expensive to produce. He did not respond to a request for comment.

Red Maple Place, though, won the support of former County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., who said he considered affordable housing a priority. His council-appointed successor, Kathy Klausmeier, said in a statement that she also supports Red Maple Place’s advancement.