Empowering Communities: Creating more homes in Baltimore

One by one, NHS of Baltimore is turning abandoned houses in the Panway and Walbrook neighborhoods of West Baltimore into homes for new homebuyers. The overall goal is to invest $16 million over the next three years, producing 75 newly renovated homes, attracting new homebuyers, and in some cases, converting renters in the community into homeowners. The NeighborWorks network organization celebrated this project with a block party and open house earlier this month.  
 
The initiative helps not just the new homeowners, but whole neighborhoods. "Vacant homes have been one of the city's biggest challenges," says Kareema Pinder, Homebuying Center Director at NHS. In January, three fire fighters were killed and another injured when a vacant home in West Baltimore caught fire and collapsed. When neighbors see a vacant house renovated and sold, "they're thrilled." 
 
"We've already purchased 28 of the homes," shares Maria Smaldone, Comprehensive Community Development Manager for NHS. "So far we have four homes completed and on the market for sale." Two of those are already under contract. One is still for sale and one belongs to a family who closed on the property in March. 
 
The family had searched for a home to purchase for eight months, Smaldone reports. And they'd done

their homework. They got their credit in shape and were pre-approved for a $220,000 loan. But as they searched around Washington D.C., where they lived in a rented apartment, they found home prices more expensive than their loan would cover. They expanded their search to Baltimore where they took a homeownership class through NHS of Baltimore. That same day, the homebuyer asked her agent about a house she liked. The seller? NHS of Baltimore.  
 
NHS's homes vary in layout, architecture, size and price – which range between$185,000 and $270,000. They remain affordable for many first-time homebuyers, despite the challenges, despite a rising cost in materials, despite that fact that the market has changed and tightened, Smaldone says. She adds that they try to give community members and those who have been through their homebuyer education and first mortgage programs a first look by inviting them to a "sneak peek"—an exclusive open house event. "We want to give them first dibs, or at least some sort of foot in the door, especially with the housing market the way it is." 
 
So far, the buyers are all familiar to NHS and its programs, says Pinder. "They've attended workshops or come through for financial coaching. We like to see that." NHS works with a network of 20 realtors and serves as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) to help with the loans. They also have 13 lender partners. 
 
Recently, NHS engaged neighbors of the rehabbed homes to serve as neighborhood ambassadors. That way, prospective homeowner can learn about the neighborhoods from people who know them best. The ambassadors were at block party celebration – held during NeighborWorks Week – to help introduce the rehab program and NHS to the community. "This was a visible, fun way to bring people out of their shells – to get food and to dance, but also to get information about what we do," Smaldone says.  
 
NeighborWorks America's Real Estate Programs Director Clare Rosenberger says rehab programs like NHS of Baltimore's help curb the shortage of housing while helping create a livable, thriving neighborhood. "It's all about  organizations making sure that they find every opportunity to leverage existing housing stock," she says. "They do the extra work to make block by block livable again. It has a multi-layered effect of stabilizing our communities, revitalizing neighborhoods, and providing opportunities for people to enter the housing market at an affordable-to-them price point." 
 
In Fiscal Year 2021, NeighborWorks America's network of nearly 250 organizations purchased and rehabilitated 1,107 rental units and 192 for-sale homes. NHS of Baltimore is situated to add to those numbers in the years ahead.