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- Sep 30, 2011
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Community activists packed City Hall Wednesday evening to call on the Pugh administration to revive the city’s decades-old “Dollar Homes” program — saying it could once again be the tool needed to revitalize some of Baltimore’s struggling neighborhoods.
Dozens of advocates and City Council members decried the city’s lack of progress in addressing thousands of vacant properties. They argued past mayoral administrations have subsidized glittering waterfront developments while not showing the same urgency for rehabilitating smaller properties in neighborhoods.
“Baltimore wants to fix itself,” said City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who called for the hearing by the Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. “We want to fix us. This is one way everyone understands we can do it. It’s not as grand and glorious as a multi-acre development.”
In the 1970s and 1980s, Baltimore officials under then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer sold rundown houses for $1 and helped finance rehabilitation of the properties through low-interest loans if owners agreed to live in the homes for a specified period of time. This effort is often credited with helping revitalize neighborhoods such as Otterbein and Ridgely’s Delight.
Clarke said the program was successful in temporarily combating vacant properties, but it is now needed again. Baltimore has thousands of vacant buildings, ranging anywhere from more than 16,000 to more than 46,000, depending on who's counting. More than 10,000 are owned by the city government.
Tyrone W. Bost, president of BPPW Piping and Pipe Welding LLC, is leading an advocacy group called HOMES that is pushing for the program to be restored.
Advocates pack City Hall to push for revival of Baltimore's $1 homes program
I like this. I think it would be great if there was federal funding for this program. I think it would stabilize neighborhoods and stabilize people.
Dozens of advocates and City Council members decried the city’s lack of progress in addressing thousands of vacant properties. They argued past mayoral administrations have subsidized glittering waterfront developments while not showing the same urgency for rehabilitating smaller properties in neighborhoods.
“Baltimore wants to fix itself,” said City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, who called for the hearing by the Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. “We want to fix us. This is one way everyone understands we can do it. It’s not as grand and glorious as a multi-acre development.”
In the 1970s and 1980s, Baltimore officials under then-Mayor William Donald Schaefer sold rundown houses for $1 and helped finance rehabilitation of the properties through low-interest loans if owners agreed to live in the homes for a specified period of time. This effort is often credited with helping revitalize neighborhoods such as Otterbein and Ridgely’s Delight.
Clarke said the program was successful in temporarily combating vacant properties, but it is now needed again. Baltimore has thousands of vacant buildings, ranging anywhere from more than 16,000 to more than 46,000, depending on who's counting. More than 10,000 are owned by the city government.
Tyrone W. Bost, president of BPPW Piping and Pipe Welding LLC, is leading an advocacy group called HOMES that is pushing for the program to be restored.
Advocates pack City Hall to push for revival of Baltimore's $1 homes program
I like this. I think it would be great if there was federal funding for this program. I think it would stabilize neighborhoods and stabilize people.
