Deconstructing Vacants

Baltimore, like many older cities in America, has a problem with vacant houses that often stretch on for blocks, creating urban blight that depresses property values, stymies redevelopment efforts and serves as a hub for crime.

In this series, WYPR examines the issues behind the problem and the efforts to find solutions.

Deconstructing Vacants is made possible by a grant from the Goldseker Foundation.

Housing

The Callow Avenue Comeback

The 2200 block of Callow Avenue in Reservoir Hill has been described as the hole in the doughnut of redevelopment in that West Baltimore neighborhood.…
Housing

When Vacant Doesn’t Necessarily Mean Vacant

There is a house on Stonewood Road in the New Northwood neighborhood in Northeast Baltimore that is clearly falling apart.The rain gutters are hanging on…
Housing

It Is Easy To Be Green

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake’s Vacants to Value Initiative aims to reduce the blight of vacant houses in the city by giving people incentives to buy…
Housing

Trying to Beat Back the Blight on North Avenue

North Avenue, possibly the longest, straightest east-west street in Baltimore, provides a snapshot of how urban blight affects the city.Once a bustling…