Baltimore plans to sell boarded-up houses for $1, with the goal of revive neighborhoods that have been plagued by crime and deterioration.
The program supported by Mayor Brandon Scott will offer more than 200 vacant properties property of the city, to residents who commit to repairing and living in them. A municipal board approved the measure Wednesday.
Vacant housing has been a problem for decades in the Maryland city, which has one of the highest crime rates in the United States, concentrated in a few high-poverty neighborhoods.
The measure is reminiscent of Baltimore's “dollar home” program of the 1970s, which offered properties for one dollar to homesteaders if they fixed them up. A similar effort has also been attempted in Newark, New Jersey.
Who are the cheap houses for sale in Baltimore for?
The Baltimore Program is intended to prioritize buyers individuals on the developers, who will have to pay 3 thousand per house.
There are $50,000 home repair grants available to help with renovations, but recipients must be pre-approved for a construction loan, according to Governing.com.
Some nonprofits urged the city to put up barriers against turning over most housing to developers, which could drive up prices and drive out poor residents.
While the housing program focuses on a few hundred homes, in 2022 there were about 15 thousand abandoned properties throughout Baltimore, depending on the city. More properties may eventually be included.
Some of the attractions of Baltimore are the Hippodrome Theatre, the F. Lewis Regional Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Slavic Museum.
In 2012, one of the largest medical complexes in the United States, the Johns Hopkins Hospital, was opened, featuring the Sheikh Zayed Cardiovascular and Critical Care Tower.
