BALTIMORE — A century has passed since redlining drew boundaries where people could live in Baltimore based on their skin color, and its impacts are still with us today.
“Based on this outdated policy that we know was made so that black people could not move up in the world,” said Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott.
Amidst a housing crisis impacting the entire country, city leaders are prepared to upend existing building and zoning codes to give them more options.
Watch Baltimore City leaders announce the Housing Options and Opportunity Act
“Baltimore is writing the greatest comeback story in American history, and to do that, we must both grow our population and not displace a whole bunch of working people that helped to build this city,” said City Council President Zeke Cohen, “No other city in America has been able to do both.”
Whether it’s expanding an existing home, splitting it up into multiple units or building a new one higher and with no restrictions on available parking, five bills are on the table.
The bills’ sponsors, including the mayor, are expecting some pushback.
“When you talk about multi-unit housing and adding more people, think about more people, more cars, more traffic, more trash—-all of those things,” acknowledged Scott.
The mayor says according to research from Live Baltimore, anywhere from five to seven thousand families would move to new or existing housing in Baltimore every year if there was housing for them to move into.
By cutting the red tape, city leaders are hoping to open those doors, which have remained closed throughout much of Baltimore’s history.
