Baltimore City leaders Tuesday night brought forth legislation aimed to cut down on the sheer number of vacant homes in the city. Council President Nick Mosby’s proposal includes a revival of the Dollar House program, in which vacant city-owned homes are sold for one dollar.
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Under Mosby’s proposal, Baltimore’s legacy residents, those who have lived in Baltimore for more than a decade, would be eligible for the Dollar House program. Recipients of the program would receive a $50,000 grant from the city for renovations under a repair grant bill, and the nonprofit would provide a low-interest loan to pay the mortgage.
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“It would require massive renovations, these are primarily shells and they are surrounded by other vacants, so the concern that we’ve had is that if you put, lets say $150,000 to $200,000 into renovating one of these things it might be worth, I don’t know, $80,000 to $100,000 which would mean you would be underwater,” Cohen said.