City-owned Vacant Homes in Baltimore to Be Sold for $1

Baltimore's Board of Estimates voted 4 to 1 on March 20, 2024 to sell city owned vacant houses for as little as one dollar to buyers who agree to renovate them and live in them as their primary residence.

City Council President Nick Mosby cast the lone dissenting vote, warning that the plan does not protect longtime residents from displacement as neighborhoods improve.

Fewer than 1,000 of the city's more than 13,000 vacant properties are city owned, and just over 200 were listed for the fixed price sales.

Individual buyers and community land trusts pay one dollar, while developers and larger nonprofits pay 3,000 dollars and smaller nonprofits pay 1,000.

The homes sit mainly in stressed housing markets across East and West Baltimore, and individual buyers receive a 90 day priority window ahead of investors.

Mayor Brandon Scott championed the program as a tool to fight urban blight and pledged anti displacement policies, public tracking tools, and quarterly demographic reports.

The debate centered on whether such deep discounts would benefit neighborhood residents or well funded speculators.