BALTIMORE — Following the announcement of new legislation called the Baltimore City Land Bank, local redevelopers in the area are more optimistic than before about being able to take on more projects and help decrease the amount of vacant properties.
"The land bank legislation being proposed would add an additional layer, where what they're talking about is amassing these properties, so that they can dispense them to people who are going to do great responsible work with them," says Leila Kohler-Frueh.
Habitat For Humanity and the Requity Foundation are just a few examples of organizations who may benefit from this new legislation.
With over 14,000 registered vacancies in Baltimore, they feel there is much more to be done and that this initiative is a step in the right direction.
"I think its tremendous and I think that you know it takes an alignment of circumstances to happen and you have a lot of people, developers, residents that want to see change happen and so as more and more resources people and organizations move towards that direction were going to start to see this change that we want and need," says Michael Rosenband.
They are also happy that there is an emphasis on redevelopment without having to displace the current population of people living in these areas.
The main issue is that not all vacancies are registered, and there are some properties that are owned by people that don't do anything with them.
