City of Baltimore - File #: 17-0037R

• File #: 17-0037R
• Version: 0
• Name: A “Dollar House” Program for the 21st Century
• Type: City Council Resolution
• Status: Adopted
• File created: 8/14/2017
• In control: Housing and Urban Affairs Committee
• Final action: 10/30/2017
• Title: A “Dollar House” Program for the 21st Century For the purpose of calling on the City to develop a 21st Century “Dollar House” program that could revitalize marginal neighborhoods by matching construction ability at the grass roots of Baltimore to production of affordable housing for workers' families and neighbors.
• Sponsors: Mary Pat Clarke, President Young, Brandon M. Scott, Ryan Dorsey, John T. Bullock, Zeke Cohen, Sharon Green Middleton, Eric T. Costello, Leon F. Pinkett, III, Robert Stokes, Sr., Kristerfer Burnett, Shannon Sneed, Isaac "Yitzy" Schleifer, Edward Reisinger, Bill Henry
• Indexes: Dollar House, Program

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
10/30/2017	0	City Council	Adopted
10/30/2017	0	Housing and Community Development Committee	Recommended Favorably
10/25/2017	0	Housing and Urban Affairs Committee	Recommended Favorably	Pass
9/25/2017	0	Housing and Urban Affairs Committee	Scheduled for a Public Hearing
8/17/2017	0	The City Council	Refer to Dept. of Housing and Community Development
8/14/2017	0	City Council	Assigned
8/14/2017	0	City Council	Introduced

* Warning: This is an unofficial, introductory copy of the bill.
The official copy considered by the City Council is the first reader copy.
Introductory*

City of Baltimore
Council Bill R
(Resolution)

Introduced by: Councilmember Clarke



A Resolution Entitled

A Council Resolution concerning
title
A “Dollar House” Program for the 21st Century
For the purpose of calling on the City to develop a 21st Century “Dollar House” program that could revitalize marginal neighborhoods by matching construction ability at the grass roots of Baltimore to production of affordable housing for workers' families and neighbors.
body

Recitals

As Baltimore looks to solve the seemingly intractable problem of revitalizing neighborhoods beset by vacant homes, it would do well to look to solutions that have succeeded here in the past. The City’s highly successful “Dollar House” program from the 1980’s could serve as a useful model for true grassroots neighborhood revitalization in the modern era.

In the 80’s the City was able to assist in the transformation of neighborhoods such as Barre Circle, Otterbein, and Ridgely’s Delight from marginal to long term stability by selling large numbers of City owned vacant properties for $1 each to individuals who agreed to rehab the properties with the assistance of low interest loans from the City and then live in the newly refurbished homes. This effort proved to not only be successful in stabilizing the neighborhoods, but also profitable for the City.

Today, the acquisition of clusters of vacant properties in a number of City neighborhoods has laid the groundwork that could make a second dollar home effort successfu...