The Department works to ensure available housing at all income levels, encourage strong neighborhoods and viable communities, and preserve Maryland's historical and cultural heritage. To revitalize commercial districts and blighted areas, plan growth and resource development, and provide housing for citizens not served by the private sector, the Department funnels federal and State funds to communities and supports community action and regional development agencies. In addition, the Department finances historic preservation, archaeology, museum services, and cultural heritage commissions.
Departmental programs help communities plan for the future.
Most functions now supervised by the Department originally fell outside the scope of government. Maryland communities grew initially with few restrictions and little planning, and shelter was a private responsibility. Local jurisdictions had little authority or interest in overseeing construction or development in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. How houses were built was limited by the skill of the builder, the availability of supplies, and the pocketbook of the owner. No governmental codes or regulations labeled structures substandard, although many must have been.