The Washington Post reports the city of Baltimore is running behind it's aggressive goal for demolishing abandoned buildings. City records listed 16,724 vacant buildings in February, eight months later the figure was 16,577. Housing Commissioner Michael Braverman set a goal to get the number under 15,000 by summer 2020, which would set a 15-year record. The detailed plan, complete with pinpointed buildings was shared with the Baltimore Sun newspaper.
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. Braverman said his team fell slightly short of its demolition goal for the 2019 budget year that ended June 30, and watched as “significantly more” houses than it forecast became vacant.
“We’re seeing those accruals happening in places that we were not expecting a rate that high,” Braverman said — including in neighborhoods that aren’t among the city’s most distressed. He said his team doesn’t know the cause. “I could only speculate,” Braverman said.
While Baltimore officials can’t explain the specifics, the forces that turn properties vacant in America’s aging cities are broadly understood. As population falls, there are simply too many houses and not enough people who want to live in them. The city lost 3 percent of its population, or more than 18,500 people, from 2010 to 2018, according to census estimates. That has left a population of 602,495.
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