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 QUARTERLY UPDATE VOLUME V - Issue 1
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I'm pleased to share detailed information on the progress made since the directive Mayor Scott issued concerning vacant houses. When Mayor Brandon M. Scott released his 30-Day vacant review recommendations, he committed to the residents of this City that this Administration would not let the urgency of the moment subside with the news cycle. Instead this Administration has remained diligent in tackling this issue.
Just over the last year, meaningful action has been taken on over 80 percent of the recommendations. Since January, 2022, the Scott Administration has:
- Reduced the number of vacant properties by 752;
- Completed an aerial roof study to identify unsafe vacants and improve safety conditions;
- Launched the Unsafe Vacant Marking Initiative;
- Launched a Tax Sale Exemption Program, and removed more than 100 properties from tax sale;
- Launched In-Rem Foreclosure to expedite removal of nuisance properties;
- Stepped up the cleaning and securing of vacant properties;
- Improved tracking of properties sold at receivership;
- Launched a pilot Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design concept in two communities; and
- Announced a $15-million investment in our Impact Investment Areas.
Our aerial roof study was awarded the MACO Innovation Award (story below) and has resulted in 23 emergency demolitions in the first two month of this year.
We have made significant progress and Baltimore is now at the lowest number of vacant properties the City has seen in decades (14,292 as of March 10, 2023).
Please review our full line-by-line status report as well as a Power Point presentation on our progress.
In Service,
Alice
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After losing three firefighters battling a vacant building fire last January, the City of Baltimore has taken steps to ensure a tragedy like this never happens again.
During the fall, the Baltimore City Fire Department (BCFD) rolled out its Unsafe Vacant Marking Initiative. The City has attached signs to the front and back of these vacant properties, documenting that they are unsafe.
First responders can identify the structural integrity of vacant homes, buildings, or structures through this initiative before entering.
Watch this video to learn how to help prevent fire hazards.
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 The City’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund continues to advance efforts to provide affordable housing options.
In January, the City awarded four Community Land Trusts (CLT) grants to support affordable housing efforts. Additionally, DHCD released a Notice of Funding Availability (NOFA) to aid in the new construction of affordable rental housing and/or rehabilitation of existing rental projects for affordable housing.
Community Land Trust Awards
The City granted funding to North East Housing Initiative (NEHI) Community Land Trust, Charm City Community Land Trust, Harbor West Collaborative Affordable Housing Land Trust, and South Baltimore Community Land Trust. Each CLT received $100,000 in operating support – working capital to meet everyday operational needs. This was the third round of capital grants for CLT work in Baltimore city and the first round of operating support for working capital provided to these organizations. Learn more.
New Construction/Preservation of Existing Rental Housing NOFA
Through the City's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, DHCD is making up to $10.75 million available to support new construction of affordable rental housing and/or rehabilitation of existing rental projects for affordable housing.
This NOFA includes two allocations of up to $2 million for CLTs, defined as Registered Community Land Trusts entities, that provide affordable housing to low-income and moderate-income families through an affordable housing land trust agreement. In addition, the City is offering up to $1.75 million to emerging developers who have completed at least three but no more than five projects. Learn more.
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 City officials and stakeholders cut the ribbon on Sojourner Place at Oliver which serves low-income families and individuals experiencing homelessness.
The City of Baltimore is attacking its homelessness and affordable-housing stock issues head-on. Last Spring, the City — in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) — set ambitious goals to provide housing for Baltimore’s most vulnerable population. Baltimore stepped up to the challenge and exceeded its House America Goals.
Mayor Brandon M. Scott recently announced that in 2022, the City rehoused 1,443 households and added more than 2,500 affordable housing units to the development pipeline. Baltimore’s 2022 goals were to rehouse at least 1,000 households experiencing homelessness and to add at least 1,605 new affordable housing units. HUD provided partial federal funding and technical assistance in support of Baltimore’s House America efforts.
The City teamed with HUD and the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) on the House America: An All-Hands-On-Deck Effort to Address the Nation’s Homelessness Crisis initiative. Through this national partnership, cities used historic investments provided through the American Rescue Plan Act to address the homelessness crisis. Baltimore is one of 105 communities across 31 states and territories and the District of Columbia that joined the initiative.
In support of Baltimore’s House America Goals, the City celebrated the grand opening of Sojourner Place at Oliver in November 2022. Sojourner Place at Oliver, a four-story, 90,000 square-foot, 70-unit affordable housing apartment complex in East Baltimore, serves low-income families and individuals experiencing homelessness.
DHCD sold the developer the bundle of land, consisting of nine parcels, through its Vacants to Value Initiative. Learn more.
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Although there are a little more than 14,000 vacant properties in the City of Baltimore, did you know that the City only owns less than one-third of them?
These blighted properties contribute to trauma, stress, and crime in Baltimore communities. But the City has added another tool to help return non-City-owned vacant properties to productive use.
Judicial In-Rem Foreclosure — the City’s new method for acquiring vacant and abandoned properties — allows DHCD to foreclose on liens on vacant lots and buildings where the value of the liens exceeds the assessed value of the property, permitting the City to take over.
This new approach enables DHCD to strategically acquire abandoned properties block by block while working with communities to determine potential uses for these properties. Through utilizing Judicial In-Rem Foreclosure, DCHD can significantly increase the number of vacant properties it offers for redevelopment.
Through this process, DHCD must file a Judicial In-Rem Foreclosure case in Circuit Court and give proper notice to any person with a legal interest in the property. The City can then make these properties available as cleared lots or vacant buildings for redevelopment.
DHCD is fully committed to working with our communities to determine the best outcomes for blighted properties. Potential homeowners, small developers, community development organizations, developers, or other interested parties will be given the opportunity to demonstrate how their revitalization plan can meet community needs and goals. Learn more.
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 In early 2022, Mayor Brandon M. Scott directed all City agencies to reevaluate their approach to combating vacants. Leave it to DHCD to respond with an award-winning, life-saving solution.
The Maryland Association of Counties (MACO) recently presented DHCD with a County Innovation Award for developing a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) tool that detects collapsed rooftops in Baltimore. MACO’s County Innovation Award recognizes superb and leading-edge county programs that improve the overall quality of life and service delivery for residents.
DHCD is testing the use of an AI algorithm to automatically detect rooftops showing signs of damage or collapse using the City's existing code-enforcement data and geographic information systems (GIS) aerial flyover imagery. This tool will help the City to be proactive in flagging buildings for possible emergency demolition, and in the future, will provide further advance warning to first responders about dangerous structures. The City seeks to utilize the tool to augment vacant building information currently integrated into the City's computer-aided dispatch.
DHCD collaborated on the project with the City's Chief Data Officer and Carnegie Mellon University’s Data Science for Social Good (DSSG) research group. Learn more.
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2022 Community Catalyst Grants Capital Awardees
Mayor Brandon M. Scott’s Administration is holding to its promise of promoting equity and access, especially in the city’s disinvested neighborhoods. The City continues to provide resources to assist renewal efforts in these communities through its Community Catalyst Grants (CCG) Program.
Mayor Scott and Housing Commissioner Alice Kennedy announced the 13 recipients who received CCG Capital Awards in November. The City granted $2.8 million in CCG funds to community development organizations committed to revitalization projects across the city.
CCG grants support projects that promote transformational, neighborhood-led investments that remove blighting influences, create a diversity of needed uses, and foster neighborhood-owned and led enterprises. The goal of CCG, a competitive awards program, is to provide capital and operating funds for community-driven revitalization efforts. Many of these projects ― which are critical to locally driven community revitalization in Baltimore ― are possible because of strong partnerships between the City, State, and local community organizations and other stakeholders, including foundations and anchor institutions.
These awards mark the third phase of funding through the CCG Program. Learn more.
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The Mayor Brandon M. Scott Administration secured U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) approval for a Section 108 Loan Guarantee of $12.4 million for the renovation and expansion of the Chick Webb Recreation Center in East Baltimore.
Section 108 provides Community Development Block Grant funds to communities as a source of low-cost, long-term financing for economic and community development projects primarily benefiting low- and moderate-income persons.
Initially constructed in 1947, Chick Webb Recreation Center was the first community center and pool for African Americans in segregated East Baltimore. Learn more.
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