Dear Friends:  

Yesterday, I joined Baltimore Housing Commissioner Paul Graziano to announce Vacants to Value, a new plan to reduce vacant housing and blight in Baltimore. As a result of one of the largest percentage declines in population among major U.S. cities from 1950 to 2000, Baltimore is now challenged with approximately 16,000 vacant buildings, roughly 25% of which are city owned. Reductions in crime and improved public schools have made it more attractive, in recent years, for families to relocate to and remain in Baltimore. City government must do everything it can to spur growth and reinvestment by:

• Streamlining the sale of vacant city property.
• Strengthening code enforcement efforts in transitional blocks and emerging markets to promote rehabilitation.
• Providing new, targeted incentives for homebuyers and developers who invest in vacant homes. The package of incentives includes a new $5,000 forgivable loan program for City Police, Firefighters, and Teachers who purchase or rehabilitate vacant homes.

The 6-point strategy is projected to cut the transactional time of selling city property by two-thirds, increase the number of vacant city properties sold, and commence the rehabilitation of more than a thousand vacant buildings within first year of the program.

City Government will get its own house in order so that we can efficiently dispose of City-owned property and get it into the hands of those both willing and able to renovate and invest. We have totally restructured Baltimore Housing, including a new Deputy Commissioner for Land Resources and a newly-hired team of experienced real estate marketing professionals. The team will launch a new website to help market and sell vacant city property more effectively.

We also approved new policy reforms including a new uniform appraisal policy, a new sale by live auction process, consolidation of property inventory into one agency, and an expedited lien abatement process. Taken together, the policy reforms are expected to reduce transactional time by at least two-thirds. Markets and investors need and deserve more transparency and predictability with these transactions. With these new policies in place, they will have it.

We have improved code enforcement efforts on "Transitional Blocks," areas that are mostly occupied but challenged by a number of scattered vacant structures. Of the 16,000 vacant buildings in Baltimore, almost a third are located in these areas according to a Baltimore Housing market analysis. Baltimore Housing will implement an automated enforcement regime issuing $900 fines to promote rehabilitation of vacant structures. This new code enforcement regime will pressure absentee landowners and speculators to do a cost/benefit analysis and either reinvest in their properties to avoid more fines or sell them to someone who will.

We have created a new package of targeted incentives for homeowners and developers who renovate vacant properties, including an allocation of $500,000 to a new incentive called the Good Neighbors Program, which provides a $5,000 five-year forgivable loan for 100 City Police Officers, Firefighters, and Teachers who purchase a vacant property in Baltimore. Additionally, Baltimore Housing has packaged four more homebuyer incentives, totaling roughly $1 million, for individuals who purchase vacant or newly-rehabilitated homes. In total, the programs will provide up to 300 homebuyers a real, tangible incentive to invest in Baltimore.

My administration will continue to support large-scale redevelopment efforts in very distressed areas without current market demand. This is a strategy where smart planning, government intervention, and private/public partnerships are absolutely necessary. In areas where the scale of blight far exceeds development demand for housing for the foreseeable future, Baltimore Housing will focus on maintaining, clearing and holding-or "land banking"-vacant property for future use. The strategy includes targeted demolition, boarding and cleaning, and creative interim uses including creating new community green space.

This is the beginning of a new effort, not the end. I welcome new ideas and tactics that will support this overall strategy going forward. In the coming weeks, we will announce a Vacants to Value summit, with national experts in urban housing issues to solicit feedback and engage the community and private sector partners interested in working with the City to reduce blight.

The simple truth is that urban blight in Baltimore is a problem of too much supply and not enough demand. That's why the 6-point plan to address blight recognizes and respects the role of the marketplace, and ensures that City Government is positioned to facilitate and drive targeted reinvestment.

To learn more about the plan visit: www.baltimorehousing.org/wgo_detail.aspx?id=417.

Download the detailed presentation here:

static.baltimorehousing.org/pdf/vacants_to_value.pdf.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at my website or by email at mayor@baltimorecity.gov. You can also follow the Mayor's Office and be a part of the conversation on Twitter.