Baltimore Is Furiously Knocking Down Vacant Houses — But Barely Keeps Up As New Ones Go Empty

Despite demolition crews working at an unprecedented pace in recent months to tear down Baltimore’s vacant houses, the number of abandoned buildings in the city has barely budged. Even as long rows of empty houses are being razed, other homes are going vacant much faster than officials had expected — for reasons they’re at a loss to explain.

In February, city records listed 16,724 vacant buildings. Eight months later, the figure was 16,577.

Housing officials pledged in March to finally make progress on reducing the number of crumbling, boarded-up houses that blight the city. They provided the Baltimore Sun with detailed plans for the coming year and pinpointed buildings to be demolished. Housing Commissioner Michael Braverman said that by summer 2020, the city would bring the tally below 15,000 for the first time in 15 years.

Today, that goal appears to be out of reach.

An analysis of city data shows overall numbers of vacant properties falling rapidly in areas targeted for demolition. But in other neighborhoods across the city the numbers have climbed, especially in six communities across southwest Baltimore and in a cluster of three areas in East Baltimore.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Ian Duncan and Christine Zhang over at the Washington Post