Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Announces $13.6 Million in Funding To Provide Internet Access to More Than 12,000 Maryland Households

New Carrollton, MD. – (June 5, 2025) Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day today announced $13.69 million in Fiscal Year 2025 awards to help more Marylanders access high-speed, affordable internet. Awards through the Home Stretch for Public Housing program, administered by the department’s Office of Statewide Broadband, will help provide internet access to approximately 12,363 unserved Maryland households.

“In today’s home, access to high-speed internet is as important a utility as water or electricity,” said Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day. “Every household we connect through the Moore-Miller Administration’s Home Stretch for Public Housing program closes the digital divide in Maryland and means more people have access to better broadband services, regardless of where they live.”

Home Stretch for Public Housing is part of the department’s initiatives to serve remaining Maryland households without internet access. The grants provide funding to fix or upgrade internal wiring and provide common area Wi-Fi for municipally-owned and non-profit, low-income multi-dwelling units. By covering the costs associated with fixing and upgrading the internal infrastructure, grants enable targeted housing units to effectively leverage the high-speed broadband services already offered by their existing Internet Service Providers.

DHCD will provide $13,698,394 to the following awardees to improve internet services across Maryland:

• Comcast: $4,920,054 (10,000 units served across Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Howard, Prince George’s and Montgomery counties, plus Baltimore City)
• Montgomery County: $7,498,959 (2,276 units served)
• Simple Fiber: $1,279,381 (87 total units served in Wicomico (60) and Worcester (27) counties)

“The money provided through these awards will strengthen Maryland’s digital equity and inclusion efforts across the state,” the Office of Statewide Broadband Director Ronnie Hammond. “These grants will ensure that every Marylander has equal access to digital resources, technologies, and opportunities.”

The Office of Statewide Broadband works to ensure that all Maryland households have access to broadband through its programs to expand infrastructure and increase digital equity. Since the office was created in 2017, it has invested more than $270 million into broadband infrastructure and programs. Those efforts have provided high-speed internet access to an estimated 52,000 previously unserved homes and businesses statewide.

For more information on the Home Stretch initiative and the Office of Statewide Broadband, visit dhcd.maryland.gov/Broadband.

###