The Blubber

Baltimore is set to sell vacant houses for $1 each in an effort to rejuvenate neighborhoods plagued by crime and neglect.

Backed by Mayor Brandon Scott, the program will make over 200 city-owned vacant properties available to residents who commit to renovating and residing in them. The measure was approved by a city board on Wednesday.

Vacant homes have long been a problem in Baltimore, a city with one of the highest crime rates in the US, largely concentrated in a few impoverished neighborhoods. The program echoes Baltimore's "dollar house" initiative from the 1970s, which offered properties for a nominal fee to homesteaders who agreed to restore them. A similar program was also tried in Newark, New Jersey.

The aim of the Baltimore program is to prioritize individual buyers over developers, who will be required to pay $3,000 per home. Renovation grants of $50,000 are available to assist with repairs, but recipients must be pre-approved for a construction loan, as reported by Governing.com. Some non-profits have urged the city to establish safeguards against the majority of homes being acquired by developers, which could inflate prices and displace low-income residents.

While the housing program initially focuses on a few hundred homes, Baltimore had nearly 15,000 abandoned properties as of 2022, according to city data. Additional properties may be included in the future.