Gov. Wes Moore set a target Tuesday of eliminating 5,000 vacant Baltimore homes in five years, committing state support and making the issue an administration priority.
Moore signed an executive order enabling a series of state actions aimed at reducing the city’s count of vacant homes, estimated at 13,000 houses and some 20,000 empty lots. It will form a program called Reinvest Baltimore that will unite city and state leaders with local organizations to revitalize neighborhoods; launch a data dashboard called VacantStat to measure and monitor key metrics; and create a Reinvest Baltimore council, headed by Maryland’s top housing official, that will review progress at least quarterly.
The executive order comes about 10 months after Mayor Brandon Scott’s office, along with partners at the Greater Baltimore Committee and BUILD Baltimore, an interfaith community advocacy group, rolled out a 15-year comprehensive strategy designed to abate the city’s vacant housing epidemic. Moore did not attend Scott’s announcement, raising eyebrows at the time.
On Tuesday, a packed room erupted into applause and a standing ovation when Moore, state housing Secretary Jake Day, Scott and other local leaders took the podium. Day, the former mayor of Salisbury, called out the expensive and emotional burdens that come with high levels of abandoned homes.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Hallie Miller over at The Baltimore Banner
