BALTIMORE — It's not difficult to find an abandoned home in Baltimore City. There are over 14,000 of them, and those are just the ones on-record.
An effort in the Baltimore City Council would establish a Baltimore Land Bank - in other words, the city would acquire thousands of abandoned homes, and convert them back to practical use with community input.
"There is so much work that needs to be done," Odette Ramos, the 14th district's councilwoman, told WMAR. Ramos says the concept of a ‘land bank’ is already working to resolve blight elsewhere.
Ramos describes the land bank as quasi-governmental - still tied to the city but working independently.
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"We’re planning on the land bank going into the hardest areas to get into, acquire the properties block-by-block, and then work with community on the outcome," said Ramos.
A Thursday night forum at the Weinberg Y in Baltimore featured envoys from other places with similar policies. The benefits, they say, are extensive - the city collects taxes better, jobs are created, and it remedies historic inequity. But, as noted by one panel member with the Greater Syracuse Land Bank, it needs local government funding to work as intended.
Robert Linn, Director of Planning and Analysis at the Detroit Land Bank Authority, says that city's land bank has acquired nearly 50,000 homes, working to sell in some cases and demolish in others.
Linn says it’s very time consuming, but also worthwhile.
"I really encourage land bankers to think about outcomes and think about impact over profit," Linn said at the Thursday forum, "because that’s what these broken housing markets need - is new investment to re-trigger the private market."
Baltimore City already works to address vacant homes in a number of ways; but Councilwoman Ramos says this has to happen sooner rather than later.
The council's legislation to establish a land bank in Baltimore City Council hasn’t gotten a hearing yet. Ramos told WMAR she doesn’t expect it to pass until after the upcoming budget is passed.
