End Legalized Theft of Black Owned Land (published on Afro.com on 7/23/2020)

In America Black people are no strangers to the erosion of property rights or the theft of land. Our experience as property certainly bloodies the water. Even still we have used our agricultural acumen, innovative genius and cooperative practice to become property owners from the antebellum period until today. In fact by 1910 Black Americans had acquired 15 million acres of land much of it in the rural south.

Today, Black America owns roughly two million acres. The land was lost by various means including forced expulsion, abandonment, foreclosure, etc. The impact of these losses was magnified by obstacles to property acquisition such as discriminatory zoning, restrictive covenants, redlining, etc., a dominant practice in the urban north. All along the way property tax disparities have been used to take properties away from Black owners.

The erosion starts with property assessments. For example in Green County, Georgia in the 1930’s it was found that Black landowners were paying “far more” in property taxes than comparable properties owned by whites. In 1the 1972 a HUD study found largely Black East Baltimore (labeled as blighted) had 10 times the property tax burden of largely white Bolton Hill (labeled as upwardly transitional); a reporter for the Afro commented ”

Many a colored buyer has had the sad experience of having tax assessment upped, not lowered, when he moved in.”. This is perplexing considering that the Brookings Institute found that homes in predominantly black neighborhoods are appraised and valued 23% lower than comparable white neighborhoods, despite all else being equal. The compound effects of depressed housing values from historic race-based disinvestment and a disproportionate tax burden continue to plague Baltimore’s Black Butterfly.

Higher assessments result in higher property tax bills. And for a segment of Baltimore’s population that is hovering at the poverty line and on fixed incomes, even a small increase in property taxes can push a household further into financial distress and a neighborhood deeper into erosion. In Baltimore unpaid property taxes (and other municipal debts) are auctioned off annually. The Tax sale earns the city upwards of 20 million dollars each year. For those buying the tax certificate debts the “certificate purchasers” receive the right to collect the debt plus 12-18% interest on the debt, lawyers fees, lien releases, etc. If the property owner isn't able to navigate the unduly complicated process and pay the debt plus accumulated fees and interest, the “certificate purchaser” can file for foreclosure on the owner’s right to redeem the property from 9 months to 2 years after the tax sale. After the filing, if the debt isn't paid the court can issue a judgment which effectively gives title to the certificate holder who can then evict the previous owner, sell the property to another speculative investor, or even rent it back to the previous owner. All while not taking official title to the property or paying property taxes on it.

At this point the erosion of Black property rights is complete, the home’s equity is no longer accessible. It’s maddening to think of the millions of dollars in equity lost to Black homeowners in Baltimore to tax sales. The true number of people impacted by this policy and practice is difficult to calculate. Data from the district court on Tax Sale Foreclosures isn't readily available.

Tax Certificate Foreclosure Filings in 2018

Data and Image Courtesy of Baltimore Open Land Data

In a process that is fraught with inequities;’ from the use of Gross Income calculation to determine assessed values which no one at Baltimore City SDAT was able to sufficiently explained to me, or the fact that the “certificate purchaser”, lawyer representing the “certificate purchaser” and a company that lends money to homeowners to pay “certificates purchasers” can all be the same entity with no disclosure required.

The impact is clear in this year’s tax sale held just two days ago (despite a request from advocates to the Mayor to cancel the tax sale for this year given COVID-19). Most of the Community Statistical Areas with the high tax sales ratios are those with concentrations of blight and predominantly Black populations like Sandtown- Winchester and Harlem Park. In Greater Rosemont where the population is 97% Black nearly 100 owner occupied properties were scheduled to go to auction this year.

Total Properties (scheduled and removed) with Tax Certificates Advertised For Sale in 2020

Data Courtesy of Bid Baltimore and Image Courtesy of Eli Pousson

What can be done besides “BURN IT ALL DOWN”? First, BREATHE! Second, work to help homeowners with properties in tax sale get them out.

If you or someone you know has a property in tax sale, contact Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service My Home, My Legacy, My Deed program to register for the upcoming virtual legal clinic August 18th at from 3 pm-7pm. This program is assisting in the ongoing struggle facing our legacy homeowners as they fight to protect their home from predatory lien purchasers, a dysfunctional city government, and decades of economic disinvestment.

If you or someone you know wants to give funds to get homeowners out of tax sale, donate to the Stop Oppressive Seizures (SOS Fund)*. There are two homeowner’s in the pipeline in need of help today!

Third, work to have the tax sale abolished for owner occupied or rented homes. Instead Baltimore should adopt a payment plan like Philadelphia. Bree Jones, founder of Parity Homes, an equitable development company, says “...it’s imperative to protect legacy residents in Baltimore’s Black Butterfly from inadvertent displacement caused by rising property taxes from redevelopment and reinvestment. Our elders and other legacy members have been the stewards of this land and community, however the annual tax sale continues to pose a risk to the destabilization of homeownership and Black wealth building in East and West Baltimore”. I concur.

* Fusion Partnerships is the fiscal sponsor for Fight Blight Bmore’s non profit programing. All donations are tax deductible.

Commentary: The Cost of Civic Sharecropping

When Being the Change Cost You Change

“Be the change you want to see.” - Anonymous Persons

The sentiment of this quote is often echoed through the philosophy that Baltimore residents must become active in making their own neighborhoods better. This is a story of what it actually looks like when residents attempt to “be the change”.

In 2017 Fight Blight Bmore submitted a proposal to the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) for access and use of the Dr. Emerson Julian Center as an operating space for the Hack Hub. The Hack Hub is an innovation and incubation space primarily for youth focusing on technology and entrepreneurship development.

The Dr. Emerson Julian Center is located inside of Heritage Crossing, developed by Enterprise Homes as the result of Thompson vs HUD, a federal housing discrimination case. Ensconced in a community rich in African American history, the center should have become an anchor in Old West Baltimore where there is a need for accessible space. The neighborhood instead suffers from the impacts of racism in community development and urban planning. The failed I-70 extension now called the “Highway to Nowhere” is but one stark example. Many of the beautiful structures in this historic district sit vacant, dilapidated, misused or underutilized (all forms of blight).

The Dr. Emerson Julian Center is in good condition but its utilization is low. The building was rehabilitated during the development of Heritage Crossing in 2002 with Hope VI funds. As such “...funds can be used for the development of community buildings if such facilities are to be used by residents of the revitalized community and surrounding neighborhood. That is, the community building must directly relate to the revitalization of the public housing development and the residents should be the primary beneficiaries. “, according to the HUD NOFA, 2004. Yet, the Dr. Emerson Julian Center isn't being used by the community at large. A third of the building houses a daycare but the rest of it except for two small offices are vacant. The lack of use of this building does not seem to be in alignment with the guidelines laid out by HUD.

The proposal(s) submitted by Fight Blight Bmore to HABC which owns the Dr. Emerson Julian Center can provide culturally authentic, economically viable, sustainable and scalable programming for the community. Instead of being met with open doors, the proposal was ignored, marginalized and shut out. On February 13, 2020 Fight Blight Bmore received the following response to the third version of the proposal, it read as follows:

“Nneka: I apologize for the delay in responding to the proposal you submitted for the use of the community room at Heritage Crossing. HABC has been reassessing the future plans for the community room. The discussions are internal and external input is not requested at this time. Therefore, HABC’s response to your proposal is on hold until further notice. “ (Michelle Cruise, Senior Manager of Private Management)

Fight Blight Bmore’s experience with HABC is a clear example of #CivicSharecropping which is the process by which a municipality or government agency exploits the labor of Black residents to provide:

- services and programming that the municipality or its agencies should be providing i.e. community clean ups,

- activation, care and upkeep of property owned by the municipality or its agencies i.e. community gardens.

HABC now has a well researched plan for how to activate the Dr. Emerson Julian Center in Fight Blight Bmore’s proposals which were submitted at their request.

No less than 320 hours were spent researching, formulating, writing, submitting and following up on the proposals. If the city had hired a consultant to create a plan for using the center they would have paid top dollar for that work.

But they didn't, they instead asked Fight Blight Bmore, a Black woman owned business, to do it for them for free. Who knew that “being the change” would be so costly, lesson learned!

Picture Caption: Jason Harris, New Futurism

Written Position for City of Baltimore Council Bill 19-0410 Trauma-Responsive Care Act

Written Position for City of Baltimore Council  Bill 19-0410 

Trauma-Responsive Care Act 

Hearing held December 17th, 2019, 10am 

Baltimore City Hall DuBurns Council Chamber, 4th Floor 

On behalf of Fight Blight Bmore (FBB), we welcome the opportunity to submit written testimony for bill 19-0410 The Trauma-Responsive Care Act. We are writing in support of the bill provided the recommendations listed below are adopted. FBB cannot support the current iteration of this bill. Our recommendations are listed below with a brief justification based on our values, mission, and vision.

Background on Fight Blight Bmore 

On Mother’s Day 2016, I witnessed what could have been an awful tragedy about two blocks from the Dr. Emerson Julian Center.  A few children were riding their bikes down the sidewalk of Fremont Avenue, crossing Lafayette Street, where four brownstones were being demolished. The demolition site was filled with debris, gaping holes about six feet deep in the ground, and no gate to prevent site access. I witnessed the potential danger associated with these unsafe conditions such as a child falling into the unsecured debris.  That day, I began researching, documenting, reporting and tracking environmental hazards created in part by the demolition sites around the city and the structures that preceded them.  That day FBB was born as a call to action to address blight and the issues it causes for individuals and communities. 

Due to resident flight beginning in the 1960’s to surrounding counties, city neighborhoods lost population, businesses, community institutions and places of employment. These losses and subsequent strategic disinvestment in many city neighborhoods, were fueled in part by racism, resulted in depressed property values and tax revenues. This in combination with factors such as the post-industrial economic downturn of the 1970’s and the epidemic abuse of illicit drugs in the 1980’s resulted in numerous vacant, abandoned, improperly used, unkempt and/or underutilized properties. The resulting blight created or worsened environmental stressors which can be defined as any physical, chemical, or biological factor that can cause an adverse effect on ecosystems or human health. Baltimore’s most blighted neighborhoods Harlem Park- Sandtown Winchester, Upton-Druid Heights, have life expectancies that mirror those in North Korea and Kagazistan (1) . Lowered life expectancies and other poor health outcomes can be tied to the presence of blight in communities. The result of blight is community based trauma. 

FBB makes the following recommendations for the current iteration of the bill:

Name of the Bill

That bill be named for a social or community worker whose work focused specifically on addressing community based trauma in Baltimore examples include but are not limited Drs Joanne And Elmer Martin or Lt. Violet Hill Whyte. 

Task Force Composition: 

It is understood that the task force will comprise impacted individuals, and that there are many Black professionals & individuals involved with its creation and implementation.  However, our recommendation addresses the need to confront the white supremacist notions that permeate through the policies and result in the harm of Black communities. It is our recommendation that the task force composition include the following amendments:

1. There should be a minimum of 4 licensed clinical social workers on the task force. They should represent varied expertise for different types of trauma, and they should have a proven background in working successfully with a racial equity focus. 

2. The youth representatives who are asked to join the task force should be compensated for their time, contributions, and effort.  The youth of Baltimore City are often called to lead initiatives and offer direction and insight to the challenges that face this city. However, the youth of Baltimore City did not create the conditions in which they live and should not be expected to work towards solving these issues for free.  

3. The number of formerly incarcerated individuals should increase to a minimum of three. 

4. There should be a minimum of one member of the taskforce with expertise in    addressing the physical, social and economic trauma of African-American community displacement using collaborative work, cooperative economic  and cultural practice. The relevant community displacement traumas include but are not not limited to segregation, redlining, contract lending, restrictive covenants, exclusionary zoning, Urban Renewal programs, subprime lending, condemnation, demolition and other community and economic development laws, policies, regulations and practices. With Baltimore City, Department of Housing and Community Development, Department of Planning and Department of Public works as an agencies impacted by the bill, this is critically necessary.

Defining Trauma-Informed Care:

It is our recommendation that the definition used in this bill for the purpose of guiding the work of the taskforce and agency staff members be revised to include a historical context. As the bill is currently written, it is implementing the SAMHSA definition and understanding of Trauma Informed Care.  According to SAMHSA, an organization is considered informed when it is able to be aware of the impact of trauma, recognize its signs and symptoms, and respond to trauma by integrating language and knowledge about trauma into its policies, procedures, and practices (2).  This historical definition should include an understanding of the legal, systemic, cultural, and social methods through which Baltimore city agencies have created the conditions that are the source of  and/or contribute to the collective trauma experienced by its Black residents. It is mentioned in the six principles of SAMHSA to have a historical approach; however, it is our recommendation that the historical approach be explicit in the definition of trauma informed care used by the task force. 

Trauma-Informed Training: 

It is our recommendation that the trauma-informed trainings are developed by local, black-led organizations that specialize in understanding trauma from a holistic, racial equity, strength based approach. The trauma-informed training as identified in this bill is a “Didactic Course in trauma-informed care that is developed by the US Dept. of Health, MD Dept of Health, or Baltimore Dept. of Health”  and provided by Baltimore Dept. of Health or its designee in collaboration with Task Force (3). As mentioned in Baltimore Awakes: An Analysis of the Human and Social Service Sector in Baltimore City, the mainstream, white-dominated institutions and research leaders often miss the mark when assessing issues of trauma in the Black community because they operate under a false notion of black pathology and white superiority. These institutions continue to harm the very communities they state they are trying to help (4).  

Taskforce Evaluation: 

It is our recommendation that a community-based external party be employed to evaluate and assess the impact of the taskforce and the trainings. The Baltimore City Department of Human Resources is responsible for assessing the compliance of the task force in regards to federal, state, and local laws.  Government agencies are accountable to the people whom they serve. Therefore, a collective body of community members, or a third party consultant should evaluate the effectiveness of the taskforce rather than an agency affiliate. 

City Agency Responsibility and Accountability: 

It is our recommendation  that the duties of the taskforce and/or agency staff include an analysis of each city agency in regards to their historical involvement in creating these conditions.  It is no secret that Baltimore City’s government agencies have a history of being responsible for traumatizing and/or re-traumatizing Baltimore City residents. From the effects of redlining in 1911 to the current state of our most blighted communities,  “People living in neighborhoods with blight are not only losing access to home equity, community history and public sector improvements, they are also being exposed to community based trauma resulting in long term stress from fear of unsafe property implosion, toxic exposure, and crime.” (5). While these are just two examples, they speak to the responsibility of the city to assess and acknowledge the ways in which is has contributed to the trauma experienced by Black residents. 

With these recommendations, we honor the citizens of this majority Black city by centering the mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health of Baltimore’s Black communities.  We urge the council to take this opportunity to disrupt the effect of white supremacist, business-as-usual, tactics used to address the challenges of our city. As the bill is currently written, it contributes to the falsehood that Black communities, leaders, and professionals are not capable of leading and being the center of our own healing. It is for this reason foremost, that we do not support the bill without these stated amendments. 

It is recommended that the above listed amendments be made to Baltimore city council Bill 19-0410 in order for it to be considered an equitable legislative solution to the effects of trauma on our city.  

In solidarity with the Baltimore Baltimore Legacy Chapter, Association of Black Social Workers

Nneka Nnamdi, Founder 

Fight Blight Bmore 

1  Capital News Service.  In West Baltimore, life expectancy the same as North Korea. (February 15, 2016)

2 McArdle, Flannery, Bill Synopsis: 19-0410 The Baltimore City Trauma Responsive Care Act. (2019).

3 https://baltimore.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4068857&GUID=9C48A666-88A8-4D49-A794-AC0D1C3D49B9&Options=ID|Text|&Search=19-0410

4  https://lbsbaltimore.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/When-Baltimore-Awakes.pdf

5  https://www.fightblightbmore.com/fight-blight-bmore-blog 

Dis-placia: Vacant in the Village [White Paper]

By Nneka Nnamdi

A blighted Baltimore is a Bleeding Baltimore. It's a broke one, too.  Living with blight can be as traumatic as being shot with a bullet.

What is blight it? When you hear blight, you might think about the disease that affects potatoes and has caused famine. But in this context blight refers to the condition of real property as vacant, abandoned, dilapidated, misused or underutilized properties. The City of Baltimore’s Article 13 Housing and Urban Renewal defines blight as:

(i) a preponderance of the structures or the dwelling units therein is detrimental to the public health, safety, or general welfare by reason of age, dilapidation, depreciation, overcrowding, excessive land coverage, faulty arrangement, lack of ventilation or sanitary facilities, failure to conform with the provisions of the ordinances or regulatory codes of the City of Baltimore relating to buildings, housing, or sanitation, neighborhood obsolescence or deterioration, inadequate open space, parking, or access to transportation; or

(ii) there is a preponderance of defective or inadequate street layouts, or of faulty lot layouts in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness, or of unsanitary or unsafe conditions, or of deteriorated or inadequate site improvements or community facilities, or of conditions which endanger life or property by fire or other cause or which retard development of the area, or any combination of these factors; or

(iii) the land is suitable for development but has not been developed to an appreciable extent because of obsolete platting, diversity of ownership, deterioration of structures or site improvements, a high rate of tax delinquency or mortgage foreclosures, or spoiling of the land as a result of excavation or usage, or any combination of these factors.

This is a very technical way of saying blight “designates a critical stage in the functional or social depreciation for real property beyond which its existing condition or use is unacceptable to community” (Breger).

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The Solution-Focused  Approach

Cincinnati resident, Irene Hawkins stated in the article Cincinnati Neighborhoods Suffer from Blighted Housing.  that, “It's depressing … one time some of the neighbors and I got together and started picking up some of the trash around.” (Driehaus & Tom McKee, 2017). Her statement speaks both to trauma caused by vacancy but also to the resilience of people impacted to solve the problem themselves. Solutions for blight remediation should be coming from those with lived experience in affected communities. Leveraging resident expertise in blighted communities has many benefits from enabling authentic representational leadership to providing unique opportunities for data driven decision making by those whose lives are impacted by the decisions. Dara O’Byrne states, “without the data, we’ve been making decisions based on wishful thinking” (Beating Blight, 2014).  Worse than the aforementioned decision by wish is when decisions are made with data by those who haven't been impacted substantively by the condition on which the data was collected. In terms of blight remediation and community revitalization, this has resulted in urban neo-colonialism (commonly known as gentrification).

There are many methods to remediate blight. including large scale demolitions, targeted demolition, redevelopment tax credits, Historic Tax credits, $1 House Sale programs, etc. These efforts are mostly effective at preparing neighborhoods for new urban homesteaders. Often resulting in the displacement of mostly Black and/or poor existing residents to other areas that then become blighted because the systemic racial and economic issues that underlie blight aren't addressed. It is a vicious cycle. In the video on the Baltimore Plan (click here) circa 1950 one can see a bucket for the clean up campaign with the address 1819 E Biddle Street. Today, the most 1819 E Biddle is no more most of the block is vacant though a playground has been recently installed where some of the houses had laid vacant for years.

Any solution applied going forward should be devised with the intent of breaking the cycle of blight that has plagued communities of color and/or poor people. Solutions ought to be developed in a manner that is inclusive, equitable, non speculative or predatory. The aforementioned principles are most often present in solutions that are developed organically and close to the problem, that is to say developed for the people by the people.

The following is a step by step guide for dealing with immediate safety hazards presented by blighted properties:

Step 0. If you see running water, vermin infestation, downed or sparking power lines, smell gas or see/hear signs of an imminent implosion  MOVE TO A SAFE DISTANCE and contact DPW, BGE or 911 respectively.

Step 1: Take a picture of the safe hazard post it to social media with the address using the following hashtag #FightBlightBmore and whatever other hashes or handles you deem appropriate.

Step 2: Report to 311 - for full instructions on reporting code violations click here for Vacants 101 manual.  

Step 3: If not resolved in a reasonable time email your city councilperson and cc: fightblightbmore@gmail.com

Steps 1- 3 will be replaced  in Spring 2019 with download Fight Blight Bmore App from Apple Store.

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After addressing the immediate safety hazards of a blighted property residents can try self help abatement. This is a step by step process initially developed by the Community Law Center in 2012.  The process has been refined by authors of Vacants 101, click here for the guide. This process is intended to empower community to take corrective action to make properties safe after the owner has failed to do so in a timely fashion.

The conditions of properties  that would cause for a property or neighborhood to be called a blighted, slum, tenement and shanty are not new in America. Even in Baltimore there has been a long history of slum clearance. The Baltimore City demolitions department as we know it today started with demolition laws put in place beginning in the late 1800’s. In the 1950’s there was the Baltimore Plan which was an urban renewal program aimed to address public health and crime concerns on Baltimore’s alley streets. Rent court and the inner block parks in Old West Baltimore are the result of this effort.     

Due to resident flight from American cities like Baltimore, fueled in part by racism, beginning in the 1960’s to surrounding counties, neighborhoods lost population as well as businesses, community institutions, and places of employment. These factors in concert with the post-industrial economic downturn of the 1970’s and the epidemic abuse of illicit drugs in the 1980’s resulted in numerous abandoned, improperly used, unkempt and underutilized properties commonly referred to as blight.

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The Impact

People living in neighborhoods with blight are not only losing access to home equity, community history and public sector improvements, they are also being exposed to community based trauma resulting in long term stress from fear of unsafe property implosion, toxic exposure, and crime. In terms of economic impact “each abandoned property costs its neighbors $70,000 in loss as it sits vacant,” according to Aaron Klein’s research.

It is estimated that “more than 30 million housing units in the United States have significant physical or health hazards, such as dilapidated structures, poor heating, damaged plumbing, gas leaks, or lead.”(Urban Blight and Public Health, 2017) Using these numbers, the economic impact of blight just in terms of lost home equity is over a billion dollars.

Beyond the dollars and cents there are physical health concerns associated with blight also. “The Neighborhood Blight, Stress, and Health: A Walking Trial of Urban Greening and Ambulatory Heart Rate”study shows that participants heart rates were elevated when walking past vacant lots but were normalized once lots were cleaned and greened (South, 2015). Additionally, Baltimore’s most blighted neighborhoods Sandtown-Winchester, Harlem Park, Upton, and Druid Heights have life expectancy more than 10 years less than Baltimore’s least blighted neighborhoods according to the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance Vital Signs 15. Simply put, blight makes people feel bad. More than Just An Eyesore discusses how vacant properties, “affect community well-being by overshadowing positive aspects of the community, contributing to fractures between neighbors, attracting crime, and making residents fearful. Vacant land was described as impacting physical health through injury, the buildup of trash, and attraction of rodents, as well as mental health through anxiety and stigma.” (Gavin, 2013).

As aforementioned there is a racial aspect to blight in Baltimore. Even neighborhoods like Washington Heights and Pigtown which are often associated with poor and working class Whites have been able to maintain vacancy and abandonment rates  under 10% at least over the last 5 years .

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In terms of a large scale long term solution to blight that is equitable and restorative without predatory lending, speculation or advantaging slum lords, Fight Blight Bmore has identified 7 practices, policies and programs that residents, businesses policy makers and other stakeholders should support to bring about the of end of blight in Baltimore. They are as follows:

1. Create An Independent Demolitions Monitor

Baltimore city has experienced a number of unsafe demolitions resulting from unsavory practices by the contractors hired to conduct them. The city has failed to hold these contractors to their contractual requirements. The state’s demolitions via Project C.O.R.E do have higher standard of practice than the city contracts with a higher price tag of an additional $10,000 per demolition. However, the State of Maryland has employed the same demolition contractors who have been doing shoddy work in the city for years. This fact in along with several studies that indicate that demolitions, especially concentrated demolitions, can create or worsen toxic exposures suggest that there should be an independent body that assesses the performance of demolition contractors and the safety of neighborhoods experiencing demolitions.

2. Abolish Tax Sales for Water and Environment Control Board Bills

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Too many city homeowners and renters are pushed into or nearer to homelessness as a result of tax sales for unpaid water bills or environmental control board citations e.g. tickets for high grass, no trash can lid, etc. The mayor’s partial ban on tax sale for these debts should be made permanent. Also the focus should be getting eligible homeowners and residents assistance to lower their bills and correct deficiencies through Low Income Water Bill Assistance Program, Home Preservation Program, etc. Access to these programs and others are often complicated by tangled titles. These are property deeds where there is unclear ownership interest due to the death of owner. In the Black community specifically lack of education on and access to estate planning tools has become yet another contributor to blight because many properties that would otherwise be eligible for reductions in taxes and water bills or grants and low cost loans for capital improvements are not eligible because the titles aren't clear. Residents of properties are not eligible for these programs even though they may in fact be a rightful owner in terms of inheritance. For help with tangle title issues contact the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers service Advance Planning Program.

3. Comprehensive municipal Co-Housing and Collaborative Workspace policy   

  The new economic realities, cultural shifts  and the availability of space are creating a demand for collaborative living and work spaces. Co-housing is a housing community developed and managed through a participatory, non-hierarchical decision making process, that meets resident defined housing requirements to include resident focused design, common and or shared space with little or no shared community economy. A common ideology is a desire to live in a community where residents take collective ownership of the condition of the community as a whole. Collaborative work-spaces can be defined as  a self-directed, collaborative, flexible and voluntary work-spaces where workers may share similar business philosophies or operating values. Unlike in a typical office, those co-working are usually not employed by the same organization though they may work together to brainstorms, plan or execute their respective projects, programs or businesses. Co-workplaces often provide access to technology, office equipment, staff, etc that would be unaffordable to the individual entities who use the space.

    These collaborative environments promote community, creative/innovative and economic vibrancy. Baltimore is in need of each of these elements to propel its deeply rooted arts and entertainment cohort as well as to fuel the innovation culture that is popping up though the city via incubators, maker spaces, etc. Baltimore should develop programming  that supports the development of co-housing and collaborative work-spaces. Vacants to Value, which has been widely inaccessible to include projects like ICBC’s Baltimore Co Housing Initiative. The development of both types of collaborative work spaces could be boosted by creating a tax incentive  (similar to Homestead Tax Credit, Arts Entertainment or Innovation District tax credits) for their creation. A 5-10 year reduction in taxes would help to make properties more affordable.

4. Equitable Rent Court with Commercial Tenant Protections

Rent Court started in Baltimore around 1950 as a part of the Baltimore Plan, a blight remediation plan aimed at reducing the number of individuals living in squalid rental dwellings. However today rent court has a become a haven of protectionism for slumlords. At this juncture Rent Court needs an overhaul. It’s initial mission should be reaffirmed in policy and practice. Landlords should no longer be allowed to expose tenants to unsafe living conditions while extorting highs rents from tenants. An equitable rent court would include requirements for landlords to immediately house tenants elsewhere when home conditions present a serious danger to resident health or safety. Also, there should be mechanism within Rent Court for accessing if rents are in alignment with class of property to ensure that tenants are receiving comparable amenities to what renters in other areas are receiving.

Retail and commercial renters have little if any protections from landlord abuses. Some landlords charge excessive CAM (Care, Access and Maintenance) fees, others require tenants to make expensive repairs to HVAC systems and others are simply slow to respond to maintenance concerns or other issues that impact the ability if the tenant to conduct business. Housing tenants have some protections against slumlords via the escrow process in Rent Court. Retail but commercial tenants have to hire a lawyer then sue landlords. This is an expensive process and unduly burdensome for small business particularly those with Black owners, who already face significant economic challenges in launching or running enterprises. It is often said that small business in the engine of the economy. If this is the case small businesses should receive protections for predatory landlords so that their contributions to the engine are not damaged or impeded by exorbitant cost of renting space to conduct business.

5. Participatory Funding & Payment Processes for real estate development

On occasion blighted  neighborhoods do receive investment dollars for real estate development. These dollars often are used to develop public or low income housing, or for institutions, mostly non profits, to expand their footprints. When these developments do occur there are often residents, community groups or neighborhood organizations who have worked for years to attract development dollars to their communities. These individuals and groups spend countless hours on tasks from rallying neighbors to attend meetings, cleaning up allies, running needs surveys, interfacing with developers and local officials. They are an integral part of the development process but receive no direct financial benefit. Instead of the current model, individuals and groups that participate in these efforts should share in the development fee, as money earned by a person or entity for managing the development process for another party. This is but one idea for how these ventures can become more equitable.

6. Community visioned and led development of Competent Spaces  

Maurissa Stone- Bass, founder of The Living Well Center of Social and Economic Vibrancy,  describes competent space as “accessible, safe and affordable space that is transformable to meet a variety of community needs.  It’s space that is governed by the principles of cooperative economics and collaborations. It’s space that fuses the intersection of biophilia (humans possess an innate tendency to seek connections with nature and other forms of life), social determinants and healing technologies.” Competent space includes but is not limited to office shares, incubation/innovation spaces, co- housing, retail coops, shared art gallery and mixed use spaces. Competent space is necessary for the health and wellness of communities. Blight stands in stark contrast to competent space. It impedes the physical, social and economic efficacy of a neighborhood.  

Baltimore does have many competent spaces. However, many of them exist within the “White L”, predominantly White and often more affluent communities, or within the shadow of corporations or other White led institutional structures.  However, most neighborhoods with concentrations of blight do not have an abundance of these spaces instead they have many expensive, yet low quality corner stores, liquor stores and other exploitative establishments including methadone clinics. In case where competent space does existed in blighted neighborhoods residents still may not be able to access them even if they are aware of their existence. Often development in blighted neighborhoods are murals and community gardens like neighborhoods like Canton, Harbor East, Locust Point and the Central Business District get projects that require cranes as noted by Baltimore resident Chris Ervin. Residents in blighted communities need access to resources to develop competent space based on their own needs. Baltimore city government specifically the Department of Housing and Community Development and Office of Planning should develop policies and programs, such as its Planning Academy that support resident conceived and led spaces.

7. Equitable Tax Assessment Calculations

In Baltimore city those homeowners living in neighborhoods where more than 51% of the properties are rentals the assessments of property taxes are calculated using the Gross Income Multiplier; a formula that representatives from the Baltimore City office of the State Department of Assessment and Taxation have been unable to explain. This formula according to staff (Sheila Preace) in that same office is antiquated and only used in Baltimore City. The Gross Income Multiplier allegedly uses an income approach to calculate property taxes. This unfairly impacts the property tax bills of owner occupied properties because rents in even in Baltimore’s most blighted neighborhoods are exorbitant in comparison sales values. The city and the state needs to discontinue use of this formula or apply it to rental units across the board. Perhaps though it is time to look at the way property taxes are calculated all together. In order to redress the impact high property taxes in communities which is also were strategically disinvestment in a new property tax formula should be developed to decrease property taxes levied in communities that have received their fair share of substantive investment in economic and infrastructure projects since 1960 or thereabouts.  

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It is notable to mention here that Maryland should  bring an end to ground rent. Ground rent is a part of the legacy of preying on Black property owners that is small measure contributed to blight. It created an additional debt for which homeowners could lose their home if they are unable to pay or unaware that they must pay. The state should require all registered ground rents to be purchased by homeowners resulting in the conversion of all realty to fee simple by 2050. And, that any unregistered ground rents become null, void and enforceable by the same year. This will prevent ground rent holders from running to collect on unregistered ground rents or making ground rents unaffordable in neighborhoods primed for development or where gentrification has begun.  

Creating and applying these solutions will undoubtedly help to stem the tide of bleeding and brokenness in Baltimore by removing blight. It is important to note that the same policies that created this problem can not be used to solve it. And, that the legacy of racism must be confronted and addressed as apart of this process. Otherwise, community development in Baltimore will continue to be oppression by new names blight removal, urban renewal, community revitalization, etc… A healthy and vibrant Baltimore can be curated through equitable development policy and practice informed by the data and led by the village.

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This paper is a companion for Dis-placia: Vacants in the Village, an interactive transmedia art exhibition presented by Fight Blight Baltimore, that engages community in examining blight and proposing solutions. The exhibition uses art and technology to examine and explain the impact on people when the as built environment is in poor or ineffective condition. The exhibition includes the works of local artist who have lived experience with blight. infographic posters are paired with artist works to illustrate how available data supports their expressions.  This exhibition was launched as a part of Free Fall Baltimore 2018. Free Fall Baltimore is presented by BGE, and is a program of the Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts, an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization.