Baltimore may sell homes for $1 to revive abandoned neighborhoods

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Baltimore, MD – The City of Baltimore may sell homes for $1 to revive dilapidated neighborhoods, reports Black Enterprise.

Baltimore $1 homes

Council members and advocates are pushing for a government program that would sell thousands of vacant buildings in Baltimore for only $1. In return, the buyers would have to promise to refurbish and live in the property for a certain amount of time.

Bill terms

According to a bill, adopted by the Baltimore City Council last month, the program would revitalize “marginal neighborhoods by matching construction ability at the grass roots of Baltimore to production of affordable housing for workers’ families and neighbors.”

Idea

The idea is modeled after the 1973 “Dollar House” program, which sold rundown, city-owned houses for $1 and helped rebuild ravaged neighborhoods in the city throughout the 1980s.

The original program also granted buyers low-interest loans to rehabilitate the properties as long as they lived in the homes for a certain period of time.

Advocates want to restore the program to help revitalize the city, curbing the city’s grim epidemic, and prevent vacant homes. The program would also create construction jobs, advocates say.

While the program sounds promising, the housing commissioner argues that the program is outdated and that there is not enough government funding to address the estimated 16,000 to 46,000 vacant homes in Baltimore, reports The Baltimore Sun.

Read more at Black Enterprise