Vacant Housing

“In many ways, I think today we mark the closure of that chapter of uncertainty that has plagued our city — and close it for good,” said Mayor Brandon Scott.

Brandon Scott’s administration has seen high turnover in top offices. But the city has also seen reductions in homicides and vacant housing, issues that have plagued Baltimore for decades.

Are the vacants in a once thriving community bringing in squatters or are the squatters hindering progress? Organizers, investors and residents grapple with how to best revitalize the area.

BUILD, the influential, multifaith nonprofit group, is fighting to ensure that certain neighborhoods are included in the governor’s plan to redevelop vacants in Baltimore City.

With an executive order Tuesday, the Maryland governor launched a new initiative to address the decades-long issue of vacant properties in the city.

Baltimore’s City Council is looking at a new and untested approach with a special financing package aimed at revitalizing blighted neighborhoods.

During the town hall, attendees formed small groups to discuss strategies for attracting more residents, resources for renters and homeowners and improving affordability.

Baltimore’s Housing Department enacted the fixed pricing program earlier this year. It allows residents and community land trusts to purchase city-owned vacant properties for one dollar.

There are more than thirteen thousand abandoned buildings in Baltimore City. We hear from two entities - a non-profit and a for-profit - that are chipping away at Baltimore's vacant blight.

Two local efforts to develop the housing and businesses in Baltimore City are seeing some success. We speak to Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake and the West North Avenue Development Authority.