Property Address: 321 E 24th Street, Baltimore, MD 21218
Property Owner: Housing Authority of Baltimore City, 417 E Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
City Council District and Contact: District 12, Carl Stokes
321 E 24th Street
Tag Archives: HABC
City-Owned Blight: 1620 Barclay Street
Property Address: 1620 Barclay Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
Property Owner: Housing Authority of Baltimore City, 417 E Fayette Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
City Council District and Contact: District 12, Carl Stokes
Link Roundup
Did you know Maryland offers an income tax credit for low-income/elderly renters? It follows the premise that renters pay property taxes as part of their rent, and therefore should be allowed an opportunity to recoup some of that money. The deadline for filing each year is September 1.
The past few years have seen an uptick in violent crimes against realtors. The most horrific of these crimes occurred in 2010 against a realtor named Vivian Martin in Youngstown, OH – she was found murdered in the kitchen of a burning vacant home. Another reason why municipalities need to combat the growing problem of vacants as a venue for crime.
HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan announced last Friday the distribution of $42 million in grants to housing counseling agencies, calling the programs “indispensible”.
People ask me all the time why I “hate Baltimore”. I don’t hate Baltimore. Seriously, would YOU spend almost all of your free time in the neighborhoods I walk around, documenting blighted vacants, taking risks with your personal safety (albeit small risks) for a city you hate? Of course not. You’d simply move away, as so many of my friends and neighbors have done. What I do despise, however, is the phony head-in-the-sand mentality I come up against — a combination of newer residents who are merely echoing the nonsense they were told by their realtor, city officials who have a vested interest in looking the other way, or long-time community association folks who don’t want to admit their 20-year Plan A hasn’t worked….in 20 years. Phony boosterism sucks — and here’s why. The last paragraph says it all, so you can skip ahead if you don’t want to read the whole thing.
Nerd Alert: I love data. Especially crime data. I’ll bet I’m not alone…
Appraisers, lenders, and investors seem to be routinely inflating home values prior to foreclosure, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
One Brookings economist estimates the number of unemployed workers in the US to be around 10 million — how to fix the problem? He suggests the government should subsidize new hires.
Baltimore’s Housing Director Paul Graziano continues to duck and dodge when it comes to the health and well-being of city children who live in public housing. How long are we going to tolerate this, Baltimore?
Two Ohio lawmakers have introduced the Restore Our Neighborhoods Act of 2012, which would result in billions of dollars that municipalities could use to demolish blighted neighborhoods. Will be interesting to see if Maryland representatives will vote for or against.
Chicago’s answer to Baltimore’s Stanley Rochkind?
Want a vacant home in Buffalo, NY? Move it, and it’s yours.
Link Roundup
Columbus mayor: City will spend money to demolish unsafe vacant homes.
In Chicago, a young girl was raped at gunpoint between two vacant homes in the West Englewood neighborhood. Neighbors say the vacants are more than just a threat to property values, and they want action.
Instead of paying lead paint lawsuit judgments, the city’s Housing Authority is paying for take-home cars for its employees, according to WBAL’s Jayne Miller.
Not to beat a dead horse, but PLEASE take the 2012 Baltimore Citizen Satisfaction Survey. It’s like voting — if you can’t be bothered to do it, you shouldn’t bother complaining about not being heard.
The Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning has a summary of lead legislation for the 2012 Maryland Legislative session. Contact your legislators and ask them to support these important bills. (Link opens a PDF)
An elderly woman was found trapped in the collapsed rubble of a vacant home in Western Pennsylvania yesterday. The woman was trapped for two days.
Fantastic news for Philadelphia! Robert Coyle, the “Millionaire Slumlord” was charged with defrauding banks of $10 million. Hopefully now his homes can be put in the hands of people who will fix them up and live in them. And we hope he goes to prison for a long, long time.
Richmond, VA nonprofit warns of a “vacancy crisis” across the state. In 2010, vacant homes represented 9% of Virginia’s total housing stock.
Support House Bill 472/Senate Bill 873
Bill Information: House Bill 472/Senate Bill 873 would establish a Lead Poisoning Compensation Fund, which would require Maryland rental property owners to pay into the fund. The fees could range from $50 to $500 per unit. The Fund would be required to cover property owners for claims arising from lead paint lawsuits.
Why This Is Important: In light of Baltimore City’s blatant refusal to compensate victims of lead poisoning by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC), there is an obvious need to take care of these victims — to take care of their immediate and future needs.
What You Should Do: Contact your Maryland legislators and ask them to support this important bill.
Link Roundup
$41 million in tax dollars will benefit developers, if BDC and the City has their way.
SE Baltimore will see more low- and very low-income housing, thanks to a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank of New York.
If one of my children turned up dead in a Baltimore housing project, you’d better believe I’d never give up on finding out what happened.
Baltimore’s Housing Authority posts a puff piece on their website, crowing about their recent victory in court that overturned a lead paint judgement against the agency. A warning to others who have similar lawsuits against HABC? Pretty tasteless, any way you look at it.
Baltimore is in dire need of workforce housing — and not just for teachers. Hopefully this new development will be affordable for more working taxpayers.
A Federal judge has sided with the City of Chicago in its fight to hold banks accountable for maintaining and securing vacant homes.
Editorial in today’s Cleveland Plain Dealer outlines a unified effort to curb Ohio’s vacant home problem.
Other news in Cleveland — Habitat for Humanity is getting ready to foreclose on 25 homes, saying homeowners are 38 to 40 months behind in mortgage payments.
“Occupiers” in Buffalo try to tackle that city’s vacant home problem.
More arson in Detroit — this has been going on for at least two years. Hopefully the person or people responsible will be caught and held accountable.
Housing Authority Assets to be Seized
WBAL and the Daily Record are both reporting that certain assets belonging to the Baltimore Housing Authority are to be seized by the sherrif’s department in order to pay for lead paint judgements the City has refused to pay.
The assets include vehicles and computers, which will be auctioned off. Evan Goldman, the attorney who had the foresight to go after non-federally owned assets, said “It’s going to be a public auction advertised in the paper, and anyone can go there and bid on a non-federal vehicle and all the funds are going to be used to pay the judgment.”
By the way, in case you were wondering — taxpayers have been paying the tab for HABC’s legal fees.
City-Owned Blight: 2302 and 2304 E North Avenue
Property Address: 2302 and 2304 E North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21213
Property Owner: Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) PO Box 1917, Baltimore, MD 21203
City Council District and Contact: District 12, Carl Stokes
2302 and 2304 E North Avenue
The Most Powerful Man in Baltimore Real Estate?
An interesting way to describe Paul Graziano, director of Baltimore’s Housing Authority.
We received an email from the Baltimore Real Estate Investors Association, inviting us to a meeting where Paul Graziano will speak to the group (including slumlords and owners of blighted vacant homes) and address questions regarding Section 8 housing, vacant homes, and other topics of interest to property investors.
It’s inappropriate for the head of a city agency to be addressing a group that is run by a man whose business practices are questionable at best. Joe DiMaggio is currently fighting a lead paint lawsuit, has failed to register rental properties, and other housing code violation lawsuits. He also has an open warrant for failing to appear in housing court.
Again, Mr. Graziano has shown bad judgement by agreeing to address this group as a colleague and not as the head of a regulatory agency — and he has again shown his lack of ethics by maintaining relationships with people who have shown such a blatant disregard for our city and its taxpaying residents.
Link Roundup
The Tenants in Foreclosure project of the Public Justice Center won an award! Congrats to attorney Matt Hill and his staff for this much-deserved award. If you or someone you know is living in a rental that is being foreclosed on, you should contact the Public Justice Center — you have rights, make sure they’re protected!
Housing prices continue to fall, according to a Case-Shiller/S&P report.
Housing Authority Director Paul Graziano continues to deny responsibility for lead paint payments. And in this article from the Baltimore Sun, City Councilman Jim Kraft says (out loud!) what the rest of us have been saying all along: Paul Graziano is a liar.
Think your 311 complaints are anonymous? Guess again.
State lab employees resent having to actually work, so they destroyed blood samples in a lab? More shady behavior in lead paint cases, sad.
The City Council took Paul Graziano to task (being called a liar was only the beginning…) and you can read his side of the story here (link opens a PDF file). Sorry, Mr. Graziano — HABC needs to pay these judgments. HABC owned the homes, children were poisoned, and it’s your responsibility as the director of HABC to ensure the safety of these children — and pay dearly when you fall down on the job.
RSS Feed
