$38M loan fund to spur Baltimore city home makeovers

Akil R. King III sits in front of the house he bought in the Belair-Edison neighborhood. He plans to renovate it with a loan through the Healthy Neighborhoods program. (Sun photo by Lloyd Fox) Oct 31, 2005

This is fully in keeping with the principles laid out in Rolf Goetze's Building Neighborhood Confidence. The point of such programs should be to build critical mass and investment in the neighborhood which spurs subsequent and additional private investment.

See "$38M loan fund to spur city home makeovers," from the Baltimore Business Journal:

Ten Baltimore-area banks have organized a $38 million loan fund to help new home buyers and existing owners in 10 city neighborhoods renovate their houses. The initiative is spearheaded by Healthy Neighborhoods Inc., a nonprofit group working to boost property values in what it considers undervalued Baltimore neighborhoods. An announcement was planned for Wednesday morning at a press conference in the Belair-Edison neighborhood, where median home sale prices rose from $58,450 in 2002 to $66,900 in 2003, according to statistics tracked by Healthy Neighborhoods Inc.

The program will offer loans of up to 120 percent of the post-renovation value of a home. Advisors will help investors decide on a strategy to best boost the value of their home and which renovation projects to undertake.

Fells Point Rowhouses, Baltimore. Photo: www.beyonddc.com.

Fells Point houses don't qualify but two significant events have led to a revitalization of this neighborhood. First was the successful beat back by the neighborhood of plans to level the neighborhood for a freeway. Second was what the city did after the freeway plan was scuttled, and they had a bunch of properties on their hands. They sold them to people for $1. These people fixed up the houses and began the long slow process that after almost 30 years, led to the "overnight success" and demand for housing in Fells Point, now a tony close-in neighborhood.

The Baltimore Sun also has this article "Loan program aims at city housing" and the Live Baltimore website lists target blocks.

Now we just have to make sure that Healthy Neighborhoods Inc. understands that maintaining historic integrity of the houses is the best way to enhance their worth and financial value.