In a Decade, Baltimore Cut Vacancy by More Than 20 Percent. This Didn’t Happen by Accident

Over the past 70 years, Baltimore has experienced population decline and disinvestment that has resulted in a high number of vacant properties. The city’s industrial base fundamentally changed, and jobs and investment shifted to other parts of the country and the world. By 2020, Baltimore had more than 16,000 vacant buildings, and the city’s residential vacancy rate stood at 7.7 percent, with some neighborhoods in East and West Baltimore experiencing vacancy rates as high as 32 percent. Vacancy not only blighted the city but also imposed upwards of $210 million in annual public costs, according to one estimate.

However, Baltimore is systemically addressing its housing stock’s vacancy and abandonment issues, taking steps to effectively address vacancy. The rapid momentum in reducing vacancy in Baltimore City is thanks to a coordinated effort across the city, state, and private and nonprofit sectors. It offers a model cities can follow to build effective solutions.

Baltimore’s collaborative approach to vacancy reduction

State and city public leaders have renewed their efforts to aggressively address residential vacancy, with a goal to reach zero vacant buildings by 2035. To get there, Baltimore is promoting an evidence-backed redevelopment strategy, and its vacancy prevention efforts prioritize community engagement and recognize the importance of antidisplacement efforts. In addition, the state and city have announced $3 billion in cross-sector investments to finance neighborhood-based redevelopment.

Public attention and investment spurred action among community-focused lenders, developers, and nonprofit organizations to acquire and rehabilitate vacant and abandoned properties across the city. In fact, between 2020 and 2025, vacant building notices issued by the city decreased from 16,000 to the current level of around 12,600 notices, a 21 percent decrease.

The role of nonprofit and mission-driven organizations in addressing residential vacancy in Baltimore City cannot be overstated. Because they are often rooted deeply in the neighborhoods they serve, they can effectively braid together public, private, and philanthropic resources in ways that reflect community needs and priorities. To bolster state- and city-led efforts, JPMorganChase issued grants to several nonprofit organizations through the Housing Innovation Program (HIP) in a joint effort with the Urban Institute. These organizations are developing affordable housing, revitalizing their neighborhoods, and offering opportunities for legacy residents to build wealth.

The following elements have been key to Baltimore’s success.

• Baltimore is promoting an evidence-backed development strategy. Baltimore City committed to the “whole blocks, whole city” approach for vacancy reduction, directing developers and investments toward entire blocks of vacant properties rather than scattered, single vacant properties. This strategy, initially designed by ReBUILD Metro, BUILD, and other local housing experts, seeks to address the systemic disinvestment and poverty in neighborhoods with the highest vacancy rates. It is also helpful for Baltimore City’s unique housing stock (aging row homes with common walls and flat roofs that affect adjoining units). Mayor Brandon Scott’s approach to addressing residential vacancy focuses on large-scale investments in whole blocks State funding programs, such as the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative (BVRI), also work to achieve whole block outcomes within neighborhoods.

• Baltimore’s vacancy prevention and reduction efforts prioritize community engagement and recognize the importance of antidisplacement efforts. Resident-led community development empowers local community members to shape and benefit from neighborhood revitalization. Additionally, households affected by long-term vacancy and disinvestment had often lost trust in many local institutions. Rebuilding trust requires strong community engagement infrastructure and can take years of sustained investment by the city and local nonprofits. To meet these goals, the city has prioritized community-based development through its framework for community development. The framework includes a core pillar of investing in all neighborhoods, a central body for community input in the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Council, and development opportunities for small and midsize developers through active requests for proposals and qualifications.

  For example, the North East Housing Initiative (NEHI), a community land trust in Baltimore’s Four by Four neighborhood and a HIP grantee, exhibits a resident-driven model for long-term neighborhood sustainability. NEHI’s core mission is providing permanently affordable housing, supported by complementary programs. NEHI hires and appoints community members as staff and board members, empowers residents to choose priority projects, and holds regular resident meetings and events.

• The state and city have made large cross-sector investments to finance neighborhood-based redevelopment. When working in weaker market conditions on properties with high development costs and low sales prices, developers find it challenging to break even without subsidies. The public sector has led investment with both new grant funding and investment vehicles to drive vacancy reduction. The state created grant programs like the BVRI and Baltimore Regional Neighborhood Initiative. The city offers funding through the Historic Rehabilitation and Restoration Tax Credit, an Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and numerous other programs initiatives, such as the Vacants to Value booster, Community Catalyst Grants, and forthcoming tax increment financing.

  Baltimore City’s investment in small and community-based developers has helped prioritize community engagement and antidisplacement strategies; however, these organizations often need more capacity to work on a whole-block scale. Additional funding targeted to operational capacity would help small developers to work on multiple projects at a time.

• Private and nonprofit sectors are complementing public subsidies with their support. Local community development financial institutions have created new products that allow developers to access flexible funds. For example, the Neighborhood Impact Investment Fund has created a bridge loan product to meet the financing needs of properties with appraisal gaps. The nonprofit National Community Stabilization Trust, another HIP grantee, created the Developing Affordable Starter Home Fund to provide flexible capital for acquisition and rehabilitation of single-family homes. The private and philanthropic sectors have also contributed with one-time investments and a newly announced private development fund assembled by the Greater Baltimore Committee.

  As mentioned above, one area where more private and philanthropic dollars would catalyze impact is supporting continued organizational capacity of community-based development organizations. This will help small, neighborhood-based organizations absorb the influx of public grant dollars and mission-driven financing flowing into Baltimore. 

The city-led and citywide whole-block approach, emphasis on community engagement, and cross-sector investment has created a surge in revitalization across Baltimore. The public sector’s strong leadership has galvanized action from the nonprofit, philanthropic, and private sectors. For other cities experiencing growing vacancy challenges, Baltimore offers a successful model.