Barbara Samuels

This is the new software platform Baltimore City recently started using…but w/ opposite results. Why can Spokane get this result while so far its been an embarrasing nightmare of delays here?

Sounds like funded IZ. Or as condition for receipt of development incentives like TIFs, tax abatements, brownfield tax credits, PILOTs etc.

Row houses can be owned in fee simple. Thats the case in Baltimore, Philly, NYC & smaller Mid-Atlantic cities & towns.

What software does Spokane use? Asking for a friend.

Smaller suburban lots for starters. Only big expensive SF houses get built on big expensive lots. Row-houses are my favored form of smaller, denser homes for ownership but of course there are other forms of more modest attached & detached homes & they also make for good family sized rentals.

The problem created by shoddy architecture & construction of condos is tricky to solve when builder lacks long term skin in the game. But there is an alternative to exurban sprawl —get rid of exclusionary zoning in already developed suburbs to allow smaller, denser & more affordable homes.

I do it because I want all kids & their families to have access to a healthy, stable, affordable home in safe n-hood w/ good schools & other resources as shown essential to sound child development & lifelong health. And exclusionary zoning is a big tool for denying that to poor kids. Rest is gravy.

Short thread very relevant to Baltimore Co voters being asked to cement 1969 Urban Rural Demarcation Line (URDL) in stone in County Charter.
So far URDL has resulted in worst kind of sprawl—pushing mid-class homes out of the County in leapfrog pattern. While allowing faux-rural luxury for top 10%.

Even on zoning, thought of as a local power, federal gov’t drafted & promoted original model zoning & building codes while states deferred & delegated to local gov’t. States can take that power back & reform zoning but what doesn’t get financed w/ Fannie, Freddie, FHA backstop unlikely to get built.

Most people just dont see it but federal gov’t the primary actor on housing policy, states quite minor: Subsidies for Affordable Housing. FHA built segregated suburbs. Urban renewal. FHA & GSE’s the backbone of both SF & MF finance. The 30 yr mortgage. Tax breaks for homeowners. Fair Housing. 1/

“Despite feeling worlds away, Jacksonville, Hunt Valley and Loch Raven are all nearby.” Just 35 minutes from downtown.
The farm may be old but this isnt “authentic” rural life. Despite close-in locations the Baltimore Co URDL allows building only luxury estates like this 2017 $3M “Manor House.”

Baltimore should consider: Offer cash & housing to retain legacy familles w/ kids who have been leaving. And/or to attract people w/ desired “talent.” Safer & cheaper than big TIF subsidy to speculative real estate ventures like Port Covington & Poppleton that produce few net new jobs or residents.

“With so many guardrails smashed by this Court, is it any wonder that our political processes are careening over a cliff?”
Trump’s latest attempt to cheat by finding” 5 more GOP seats in Texas leaves blue states w/ no alternative. Maryland should gerrymander the despicable Andy Harris into oblivion.

Baltimore City schools face federal probe into alleged antisemitism The U.S. Department of Education says it will investigate Baltimore City Public Schools following a complaint that alleged several acts of antisemitism.

Under the guise of fighting antisemitism we’ve watched the Trump Administration dismantle, takeover & cow universities. So emboldened, we are about to see the Trump Admin try their hand at dismantling a public school system using the same bogus cover.
www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Wait, what???

Professional athletes are advised to set up foundations as a tax shelter, but they dont all do meaningful things like this. Raven & Orioles & their players could do more for Baltimore.

God bless you. Maggie doing her part.

Restrictive zoning, high housing costs, and the attendant homelessness crisis are a policy choice that we are free to stop making at any time.

Baltimore County’s Urban Rural Demarcation Line (URDL) w/ large lot zoning that hasnt been updated since its inception in 1969 & despite massive growth into to the region’s most populated jurisdiction & biggest job center. Preserves 2/3 of County land area just for wealthiest 10% of population.

Good news for "local control" fans, you and the White House are aligned on housing policy

Sounds like Cape Cod!

Awesome project. Made possible because First Nation lands are entirely exempt from local zoning controls to height, area, density, lot coverage, and the useless land use permit process. The project was opposed by neighbors who couldn’t appeal it. This is how all housing should be built

Another article w/ clues for housing messages that cross ideological spectrum. Emphasize gov’t action to stabilize housing for people—especially children. E.g Supports for social housing & starter homes & getting rid of regulations that needlessly bar social housing & modest homes from being built.

Must read: “A building-more-will-fix-it-all story is too simplistic and partial …Deregulate zoning and let developers build as much as they want and that will fix everything” is demonstrably false….’Landlords are all bad and greedy’ isn’t the answer either because that’s also provably false.”

I wonder what scheme landlords will try next, in order to discriminate against voucher holders…

www.newsbreak.com/wol-am-1450a...

The Fair Housing Act

If anyone would like to read the actual Fair Housing Act, please go here.

www.justice.gov/crt/fair-hou...

The Equal Rights Center has a booklet that explains source of income discrimination in detail. equalrightscenter.org/wp-content/u...

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