As part of the Reinvest Baltimore initiative, the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development has begun a new blog series to highlight updates from monthly Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Council meetings. For more information on the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Council, visit our website.
In April, Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Secretary Jake Day announced a new, accelerated application process for the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative (BVRI). With this new process, program funds for the acquisition, demolition, and redevelopment of vacant properties will be made available to the City of Baltimore, Maryland Stadium Authority and local Community Development Organizations (CDOs) in July..
BVRI application criteria prioritizes the redevelopment of properties with vacant building notices in targeted whole-block areas. CDO applicants were encouraged to focus on projects that reflect community needs, build upon existing community strengths, and mitigate multiple vacant properties in support of the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Council’s “whole block” revitalization goals. Additionally, BVRI grant agreements will now be performance-driven, based on property and project goals, rather than the specific dollar amount of an award. This framework will allow DHCD greater flexibility to provide funding to CDOs that demonstrate progress efficiently redeveloping vacant property. Both the accelerated BVRI application process and the upscaling of project scope demonstrate the State of Maryland’s commitment to solving this urgent crisis.
Applications for Fiscal Year 2026 BVRI funds closed in late May, so the June meeting of the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Council afforded Secretary Day and the department’s team a chance to share some key information and metrics gleaned from a preliminary review of the applications.
The department received 89 applications requesting BVRI funding for redevelopment activities in whole block target areas along with several larger, single-site, mixed-use and commercial projects. Priority projects include a concentration of vacant properties on contiguous blocks currently owned by the city or a CDO partner, or properties the applicant intends to acquire within six months. Through the application review period, the Department found that revised application parameters had empowered exactly the kind of focused partnerships and targeted investment the council was seeking.
DHCD is currently working with Baltimore City and CDO partners and applicants to assess the priority properties. This will determine whether the vacant units in a proposed project geographically align with the city’s whole block strategy and other community priorities and verify their status and readiness for acquisition or other actions. Shortly after, applications will receive their final review and scoring. Final BVRI funding recommendations will then be submitted for Secretary Day’s approval.
For more details on the working groups, meeting videos, minutes, and presentation slides, visit the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Council webpage.
