Baltimore City officials hope to rehab more than 1,000 vacant buildings by providing more incentives to homebuyers and developers who build in distressed areas.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano announced the "Vacants to Value" initiative Nov. 3.
The plan relies on six strategies:
• Disposing of vacant city-owned property. The mayor's office has restructured its land resources staff, hired a new team of real estate marketing professionals, and launched a new website to help sell vacant city properties.
• Fining landowners who abandon properties $900 instead of pursuing costly legal battles by taking each case to court. This will hopefully pressure absentee landowners and speculators to reinvest in their properties to avoid more fines, or sell them.
• Deploying code enforcement attorneys to encourage investment in emerging neighborhoods.
• Providing incentives for homebuyers and developers. This includes a $5,000, five-year forgivable loan for 100 police officers, firefighters, and teachers who purchase vacant property. Baltimore Housing has packaged four more home-buyer incentives, totaling roughly $1 million, for individuals who purchase vacant or newly rehabilitated homes. The department will also establish a new $1 million revolving loan fund to provide short-term cash for small developers and contractors who rehabilitate vacant properties.
• Supporting large-scale redevelopment efforts in distressed areas.
• In areas with significant urban blight, Baltimore Housing will focus on maintaining, clearing, and holding�or "land banking"�vacant property for future use. This involves demolishing and cleaning targeted areas and creating new green space.
Baltimore City contains 16,000 vacant buildings, of which 5,000 are located in what the city calls "transitional blocks" � areas that are largely occupied but challenged with a number of scattered vacant structures.
Writer: Julekha Dash
Source: Baltimore City