BALTIMORE, Md. — Driving through some sections of Baltimore, you can’t miss all of the vacant homes, but at a special ribbon-cutting in West Baltimore’s Harlem Park, two families are receiving the keys to the first two of almost a hundred renovated homes planned for that community.
A Baltimore-based, non-profit called Parity Homes broke ground on its ambitious project to restore 96 homes in Harlem Park 18 months ago, but the pandemic brought supply chain issues and skyrocketing lumber prices that delayed renovations.
On Thursday, the families will officially take ownership of the homes that they’re purchasing at rock bottom prices as parity begins to make good on its promise to turn them around.
“Our mission is twofold,” said Bree Jones, the founder of the non-profit organization, “On the one hand, we want to attempt to heal historically redlined communities like the one we’re in now, Harlem Park in West Baltimore where redlining and systemic racism have caused thousands of vacant properties. Simultaneously, we want to turn these vacant properties into affordable homeownership opportunities particularly to narrow the racial wealth gap.”
The starting price on these homes is $240,000, but that is for a five-bedroom, three-and-a-half bath totally-renovated rowhouse, which in today’s market is a steal.
In addition to the nearly one hundred homes in Harlem Park, Parity also plans to renovate a hundred more in the city in the next few years, and its waiting list currently has over 600 people all hoping to buy into one of these communities.
