Baltimore Considers ‘Investing’ Billions To Address 14,000 Vacant Homes

Over 14,000 vacant houses are scattered across Democrat-controlled Baltimore City, an issue we’ve been reporting on for years — refer to our 2018 article “One Baltimore Neighborhood Has The Highest Vacancy Rate In America.” 

Six decades of Democrats in City Hall have transformed the once-thriving metro area just above Washington, DC, into a ‘rat-infested hellhole.’ Now the city leadership (even more progressive than before) has a cunning plan to reverse the rot. 

Local media outlet WJZ reports Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott has proposed a plan to throw billions of dollars at the more than 14,332 vacant homes to rebuild them, such as the ones featured below… 

Scott partnered with The Greater Baltimore Committee, a non-profit focused on improving the region’s business climate, and BUILD, an inter-faith development group, to rid the city of vacant homes through a proposed multi-billion dollar plan. 

“One person can’t do it. One entity can’t do it. One organization can’t do it,” said Pastor Brent Brown from BUILD, which stands for Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development.

Brown said, “One politician can’t do it. It’s going to take community.”

BUILD published a study that indicated at least $7.5 billion is needed to address the vacancy problem in the city. There are entire neighborhoods with vacant row homes. 

“Having vacant after vacant after vacant, it can put you, really, in a depressed state,” Baltimore resident Edith Gilliard told WJZ. 

Gilliard said she dreams of a future where homes will be occupied and neighborhoods thriving like decades ago.

The past that Gilliard refers to was one from a half-century ago when the city had a total population of nearly a million — figures now show that number has been halved. People are fleeing the area because of failed progressive policies sparking out-of-control crime. 

Instead of rebuilding vacant row homes for a population that doesn’t exist anymore, here is a novel idea: “The mayor should concentrate on straightforward, impactful strategies such as reducing the property tax rate, which is among the highest in the state and the country, to stimulate economic growth,” said Chadwick Chilcot, senior wealth advisor at Wilmington Trust in Baltimore.