Special to The Afro
By Ariyana Griffin
Candidates running for the Mayor of Baltimore gathered at Unity Hall to speak at a Baltimore City Housing & Community Development Candidate Forum on April 13 to discuss their plan of actions for housing and community development.
The event was hosted by a coalition of city housing and community organizations to provide candidates Brandon Scott, Sheila Dixon, Bob Wallace and Thiru Vignarajah with the opportunity to speak to the community on their plans regarding housing.
Vacant Homes
A major topic was the amount of dilapidated homes and lots in the city, and future plans that would be used to reduce this number for good.
“We know that Baltimore, the birthplace of redlining, has had these housing issues for generations. And, one of my promises to the residents of Baltimore during my last campaign was to immediately start the work to undo those decades of disinvestment,” said Mayor Scott.
He shared that for 20 years Baltimore has been stuck with having about 16 thousand vacant properties, while he was in office he was able to lower those numbers. “Now it is down to 13 thousand, the lowest that we have seen in 20 years.”
He shared his initiative in partnership with BUILD and the Greater Baltimore Committee that was unveiled last December, three billion dollars to help the vacancy issue once and for all over the course of 15 years.
Mayor Scott shared that this summer TIPS (Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities) will be in neighborhoods that deal with vacant properties. Shortly after giving his remark, he announced he would have to leave due to being notified of a shooting that took place at Mondawmin Mall. He had hoped to return to the forum, but he unfortunately and understandably did not make it back by the end of the meeting. Each candidate took a moment to recognize the severity of the situation.
Sheila Dixon, former 48th Mayor of Baltimore, expressed that the issue is far older than 20 years.
“In 2022 Baltimore City spent a million dollars on vacant houses, half in operating costs in half in stabilizing and demolishing. Let me say this, vacant houses didn’t start yesterday or 20 years ago, it started even longer than that,” Dixon said.
Dixon also highlighted her past work as mayor and her use of TIPS to help communities.
“I introduce a new housing plan that talks about creating a housing and neighborhood authority which will incorporate the land bank. And, we will bring it over to this authority to streamline the process so that we can get the properties out in the hands of individuals and small developers, etc.,” said Dixon.
Bob Wallace expressed that Dixon and Scott had their opportunity during their terms as mayor to fix this issue and did not.
“Ms. Dixon is my good friend, but keep in mind that Ms. Dixon and Mr. Scott combined together had over 40 years opportunity to fix this problem and they didn’t,” said Wallace. He expressed that the root of the vacant properties are economic inequality.
“What we need to do is to rebuild this economy so that people have the right kind of jobs and the right kind of income so that they can afford the building, they can afford to buy homes, they can afford mortgages, they can afford to build their communities,” said Wallace. “We do that by taking big capital money, multi billions of dollars of money to use people in the community who work in the community, who live in the community to rebuild the community using minority and women owned businesses to build that infrastructure so that we as a city can be a great city. Its not going to happen until we change the leadership, we cant keep going back to the same old leadership that got us into this.”
Thiru Vignarajah shared that “Last year he [ Mayor Scott] celebrated that the number of vacant houses has gone down from 14 to 13 thousand, but failed to tell you that the number of vacant lots has gone up to 20 thousand. That is not success to celebrate, thats juking the stats.”
TIPS are not apart f the solution, they are apart of the problem,” said Vignarajah. He expressed that the issue is that TIPS are not used in communities or for businesses that could benefit, but are also used on large developers pushing the issue of displacement.
Senior Residents in Baltimore
Senior residents in Baltimore have expressed unlivable housing conditions and repair negligence while living at senior facilities.
“We need to have a dedicated hotline for seniors to be able to call to make sure that these needs are not going unanswered, that is the first thing. There ought to be a whole office that is devoted to making sure that these housing needs, of seniors in particular, are guaranteed,” said Vignarajah.
“We have to dismantle this tax sell system,” Vignarajah said. He shared anecdotes of seniors who have inherited homes and lost them due to falling behind in property taxes and utility bills, he said that will be a system that will be gone day one. “It disgraceful, it is inhuman and on day one we are going to dismantle that system forever.”
Wallace wants to use another approach, he wants to bring in private landlords to handle this issue. “They complain about the lack of response to their needs as citizens, what I will do as Mayor is use use that mayor bully pulpit to make sure that private landlords and private owners are meeting the needs of the people in those communities,” said Wallace.
He expressed that there are seniors that live in senior housing and those that live in homes. He shared that loitering has been a major issue for seniors as it prevents them from getting into stores. He also wants to combat the vacant home issue so that seniors can sell their homes for what they are worth.
“First 90 days, whatever loitering laws are on the books today will be enforced so that there are no loitering on the corners where the seniors live and feel like they are prisoners in their own homes,” said Wallace.
Dixon shared the plan to help elders be able to afford and keep their homes.
“We would increase the funding that the city currently has to help individuals with roofs, and windows and other areas of their homes. Right now its taking too long, and its not enough money,” said Dixon.
“For individuals over a certain age we need to go to the state, because it is going to take state legislation, and reduce what they are paying if they have been in their home over 30 and 40 years so that they don’t have to pay the taxes that are currently being charged,” said Dixon.
After the forum, community members felt they were able to learn more about the candidates on the ballot.
Roy Edroso shared that he moved to Baltimore about a year ago and learned about the forum from the Madison Park Improvement Association. “ I didn’t see anything else about this mayoral and council president forum and I said, well, I better go while the, while the getting is good because there may not be another one.”
He shared that he came into the forum without knowing who he will be voting for, and still does not know. However, it gave him the opportunity to gain insight on the candidates. “My mind is not made up yet, but I know a little bit more about these guys. I took notes so I can refer to them. I’ll be exploring their campaigns,” said Edroso. “ So definitely it’s going to help me make a decision. I’m very glad I was able to do it. I hope the next time something like this happens, it gets publicized so that more people will come out.”
Similarly, Dr.Brittny Herring-Devore expressed she came to the forum to gain more knowledge about the candidates.
“I’m very interested in hearing what the candidates have to say about their housing agenda for Baltimore City. I am a homeowner in Baltimore City and I’m interested in seeing what the future has to hold based on what each candidate has to offer,” said Herring-Devore.
“I did learn some new things, including the positions of the different candidates, some candidates I was more familiar with than others. So it was a great opportunity to hear their stance and to really hear about their motivations for their campaigns as well as for the future of Baltimore.”
She said she did not come to the forum with a clear decision of who she would be voting or, but she looks forward to attending more forums to help hone in on her decision.
Early voting takes place May 7-9 and regular voting will conclude on May 14th.
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