Housing

Housing redevelopment in Baltimore’s distressed neighborhoods would pay for itself with economic benefits such as tax revenues and construction jobs, says Paul C. Brophy, a principal with Brophy & Reilly LLC who specializes in neighborhood revitalization.

Just 10 companies have acquired the lion’s share of the properties foreclosed on through tax sale and most of the profits, a Banner analysis found.

The proposed tax credit would be the city's first for affordable housing.

The Moore-Miller transition team gathered input from more than 5,000 Marylanders to identify the state’s biggest challenges, develop solutions and help set priorities, says Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller, who chaired the transition team.

Baltimore County is searching for abandoned homes, but finding them may be more complicated than you would think.

Replacing gas appliances with electric ones make sense, but it can be costly. Maryland lawmakers are exploring ways to expand rebates for electrification.

Historic investment of at least $7.5 billion, to be spent over time, is needed to solve Baltimore’s crisis of vacant and abandoned houses, Baltimoreans United In Leadership Development (BUILD) says. The organization of clergy, neighborhood and educational leaders says the large-scale redevelopment needed for some city neighborhoods would require that level of investment.

MV Realty’s practice of enticing homeowners to sign away the exclusive right to list their homes for sale for 40 years in exchange for small cash offers drew the attention of lawmakers and regulators.

The bill would require inspections of “priority buildings” with 20 units or more with a documented history of poor conditions twice per year until conditions improve.

When police officers demonstrate a lack of empathetic humanity, incidents such as the killing of Tyre Nichols occur, a reader says. A physician says Marylanders will benefit from full implementation of the state’s family and medical leave law. Any plan for Lutherville-Timonium redevelopment must rely on the area’s history and facts about issues such as zoning, the Lutherville Community Association’s president says.

Westminster Management, the family real estate company of Jared Kushner, agreed to pay millions to settle allegations of maintenance horrors and excess fees in its Maryland rental apartments.

The complaint alleges that the city has violated the Fair Housing Act repeatedly since 1975, when Baltimore officials first adopted a plan to redevelop Poppleton.

$6 million is sitting unclaimed in city coffers, a Baltimore Banner review shows.

The finance department has called the city’s menu of tax credits “highly inequitable” and singled out the historic preservation incentive as especially in need of reforms.

Judge had found that a city ordinance “increased the risk that tenants would be erroneously deprived of their personal property.”

A Lutherville-Timonium redevelopment and transit spur plan offers benefits for the entire Baltimore region, two readers said. A reader raises financial, safety and environmental concerns about parklets provided for outdoor dining in Baltimore.

The Appellate Court of Maryland has sided with tenants who claim fees imposed on renters by a company co-owned by Jared Kushner were charged illegally.

The city has nearly exhausted its rental assistance funds, as eviction rates tick back up to pre-pandemic levels.

How has Baltimore’s tax sale system affected you? Help us tell the story by sharing your own.

Some 41,000 properties have gone through the city’s tax sale since 2016, a Baltimore Banner investigation found, threatening home ownership and prolonging vacancies in majority-Black neighborhoods.