Hunger, Housing, & Poverty
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On Saturday, BUILD joined with Turnaround Tuesday, We Our Us, Out for Justice, the University of Baltimore's Center for Criminal Justice Reform, and national partners like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Vera Institute for Justice at the Langston Hughes Community, Business, & Resource Center in Park Heights for a powerful gathering of returning citizens and allies. More than 200 people came together to reflect on the momentum we created in our criminal justice work in 2025, share personal stories of impact, and recommit to the work ahead. The convening was both a celebration and a call to action—energizing leaders to deepen their organizing and push for even greater victories in 2026.
We can't wait to kick off the year with a rally in
Annapolis on Monday, February 9, 2026, at 7 pm.
Save The Date
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Top Committee Priorities for 2025
- Feature HOUSING 101, a series of workshops, podcasts, and webinars to educate ourselves about housing issues, e.g., vacate housing.
- Use letter writing and social media platforms to endorse local and relevant housing legislation in Baltimore City and surrounding counties.
- Use letter writing campaigns of support on the federal level to end hunger and poverty at home and abroad.
- Build relationships with our local and state representatives.
- Host a Speakers Bureau at St. Ignatius Catholic Community featuring social justice speakers.
- As a parish located in Baltimore City, identify and directly support key housing, hunger and poverty issues that impact the communities we serve.
- Continue to expand parish support and community relationships.
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Meetings
2nd Thursday of the Month
at 6PM - Ignatian Hall -
Next Meetings
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Thursday, March 12, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
The Justice & Peace Ministry of Saint Ignatius Catholic Community is dedicated to serving faith and promoting justice.Read More -
Thursday, April 9, 6:30 PM - 8:00 PM
The Justice & Peace Ministry of Saint Ignatius Catholic Community is dedicated to serving faith and promoting justice.Read More
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BUILD CRIMINAL JUSTICE EVENTRSVP to Candra Healy
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2025
HELP US TAKE ACTION ON CRIMINAL JUSTICE & REENTRY ISSUES NOW & IN 2026!
Join BUILD & 200+ on Saturday, December 13th from 12-3pm at the Langston Hughes Community, Business & Resource Center; 5011 Arbutus Ave, Baltimore, MD 21215.
We’ll be joined by partnering reentry organizations & public officials. We’ll listen to each other’s stories and prepare to take action on issues impacting the over 100,000 justice impacted individuals in and near Baltimore.
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Monday, Dec 15 from 6 pm to 8 pm EST
Baltimore Unity Hall
1505 Eutaw Place
Baltimore, MD 21217
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Baltimore City Affordable Housing Trust Fund CLT Information- 2025 New Construction and/or Rehabilitation of Existing Affordable Rental Housing - Round 6
The Baltimore City Department of Housing & Community Development (DHCD) made up to $6,500,000 available from the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to support new construction of affordable rental housing and/or rehabilitation of existing rental projects for affordable housing. Qualified applicants were eligible to request up to up to $1,000,000. The application period for this NOFA closed on 3/17/2025. Awardees, pending Board of Estimates approval, are as follows:See Awardees
More Information
Applications for Funding Opportunities Open September 19
BALTIMORE, MD (Wednesday, September 10, 2025) - Today, Mayor Brandon M. Scott announced the first application round for the City-Wide Affordable Housing TIF Funds to support the redevelopment of vacant properties throughout Baltimore City. Tax Increment Financing (TIF) is a public financing tool used by local governments to encourage development and redevelopment in underutilized or distressed areas. The application and program guidelines will be available on DHCD's website.
"My administration is taking on a challenge that's been ignored for generations - vacant housing - delivering $3 billion to end this crisis for good within 15 years," said Mayor Brandon M. Scott. "This is a critical component of solving this challenge. Using these funds in our neighborhoods that have been disinvested in for decades will increase homeownership while preserving communities. It will take all of us working together to get there."
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State Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) Updates.
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What a new report says about Baltimore’s property tax problem | GUEST COMMENTARY
This month, the Center for Land Economics, an independent research firm, published the results of a months-long investigation into the accuracy of state assessments of vacant property here in Baltimore City. Using state assessment and property transaction data, the report found that flawed assessment methods undervalue the city’s vacantproperties by almost half a billion dollars.
The report connected the poor quality of Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation (SDAT) assessments to the city’s vacancy crisis by showing how the systemic undervaluation of vacant properties makes them “tax-privileged” assets attractive to speculators. This, they observe, amounts to an effective subsidy for speculators — the costs of which are passed on to residents and businesses who bear the cost of the undervaluation in the form of higher tax rates.
Continue Reading
Baltimore is sitting on nearly half a billion dollars of undervalued, vacant land.
Our investigation reveals how flawed state property assessments systematically undervalue empty lots, often assessing them at a fraction of their true market price. This practice creates an unintentional incentive for speculative blight and unfairly shifts the tax burden onto homeowners and active businesses.
Read Full Report
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Sixteen groups to receive $50M to transform vacant properties in Baltimore City
Photo courtesy The Office of Governor Wes Moore.Gov. Wes Moore announced who will receive $50 million in grant awards to help reduce the number of vacant properties in Baltimore City.
These grants are through the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative (BVRI), a program that helps redevelop vacant properties.
Awardees include Baltimore Redlining and Blight Elimination CDC, Coppin Heights CDC, Park Heights Rennaisance, South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, and many other groups and community organizations.
Moore also announced a new Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative Support Fund, which has collected more than $1 million from philanthropists to award funds for technical assistance.Last year, the Moore-Miller administration created Reinvest Baltimore last year to address vacant property issues in Baltimore City.
“For this to be Maryland’s decade, it has to be Baltimore’s time,” Moore said in a statement. “We know that if we want to drive investment and growth in Baltimore City, we need to address its vacant housing crisis. And the future of these properties will be written in coordination with local leaders – because those closest to the problem are closest to the solution. Together, we will build a more vibrant, prosperous, and growing Baltimore for all.”
Continue Reading
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On Sunday, BUILD joined with state and city leaders, the Greater Baltimore Committee, and financial institutions at Greater Harvest Baptist Church in West Baltimore to take another major step in the fight to end the legacy of redlining in Baltimore. A huge thank you to the more than 600 people who attended a packed GHBC.
Led by PNC Bank, financial institutions and the Greater Baltimore Committee committed to lead the work of organizing a private capital fund that would support our work of ending the vacant housing crisis in Baltimore. BUILD announced a public goal to capitalize the fund with at least $100 million.
This fund will help leverage the $1.2 billion in public investment already committed by the city and state to revitalizing historically disinvested neighborhoods. Maryland Housing Secretary Jake Day announced the state's willingness to work with BUILD, GBC, and financial institutions to establish a secure and effective structure for housing these funds.
Mayor Brandon Scott pledged to take concrete action on specific issues on housing-related issues -- permits, stabilization, demolition, and acquisition -- with a public report to BUILD leaders in July.
Leaders also shared updates on our work to fight for a Fair Chance in Housing for people coming home from incarceration and our ongoing work organizing with immigrant families to respond to this current moment.
Together, we can build a more just and equitable Baltimore. Thank you for being part of BUILD!
Here's some press about the action.
Baltimore Banner (if the article is behind a paywall, click here.)
Baltimore Sun (if the article is behind a paywall, click here.)
Fox Baltimore -
Community Housing Hub 
What Baltimore Can Learn From Other Cities that Have Tackled Vacant Properties
From the Baltimore Banner
Baltimore isn’t the only place that has struggled to reduce a glut of vacant properties: several other cities and towns also are dealing with decades of flight to the suburbs, the Great Recession housing crash, and the lingering effects of redlined neighborhoods or other remnants of racist or discriminatory practices.Some states — including Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington, D.C. — have been able to use a $1.5 billion Obama-era program to prevent foreclosures and address neighborhood blight, but Maryland did not qualify. Baltimore’s vacant house problem is so stubborn and pervasive that no one tool, developer or community association alone can solve it, but those working on the issue say the city should try new ideas, tap community resources and pursue legal options to make progress.
The Baltimore Banner went looking for examples of how other cities have addressed vacant and blighted housing. These are some of their stories.
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Defining Hunger
The U.S. government does not use the term “hunger” but defines and regularly measures the incidence of two related conditions.
One is “low food security,” or not always being sure of having enough money to pay for food.
The other is “very low food security,” skipping meals or not eating for a whole day or longer because there is not enough money for food.
The term “food insecurity” refers to households in either group. Bread for the World considers food insecurity to be hunger. Americans frequently interpret “hunger” or “food insecurity” to mean that someone does not have enough food.
And, of course, it’s true that not having enough food is hunger. But the two terms also encompass not just the number of calories available to people, but the nutrients they consume.
Since nutritious foods tend to cost more and may be harder to access in low-income neighborhoods, people who live below the poverty line are too often forced to choose cheap foods that may be filling but do not provide the nutrients needed for good health. Their health—especially the health of children—can and does suffer as a result.
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Hunger is about more than food. It’s about people!
Volunteer
- Support of our Loaves and Fishes MinistryAdvocate
- End the pause on U.S. foreign assistance and protect domestic nutrition programs.
- Pledge to advocate for the protection of lifesaving foreign assistance and domestic nutrition programs.Support Loaves and Fishes Ministry - visit our webpage for ways to support our work.The Loaves and Fishes Ministry began in order to provide a nourishing weekend meal to the homeless and poor of Baltimore City and create an opportunity for fellowship for homeless patrons and ministry volunteers, trying to understand and live out the Gospel challenge of Matthew 25.Go to the Loaves & Fishes Ministry PageSupport Local Food PantrySt. Vincent de Paul of Baltimore's Beans and Bread Resource Center400 S. Bond StreetBaltimore, MD 21231Call (410) 732-1892Email [email protected]Read this article and find out how you can help: https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/baltimore-food-pantry-critically-low-donations-st-vincent-de-paul-beans-bread/
St. Vincent de Paul (SVDP) of Baltimore's Beans and Bread Resource Center is experiencing critically low donations ahead of the colder months.
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“The Face of Poverty” by student artist Megan Jackson is a national entry of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) Multimedia Youth Contest. This contest allows students in grades 7-12 to learn about poverty in the United States, its root causes, and faith-inspired efforts to address poverty, especially through CCHD. The contest is sponsored by
CCHD and RCL Benziger.
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“The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed, not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises. … Inequality is the root of social ills.”– POPE FRANCIS
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WNADA’s final planning meeting this Saturday; next phase brings search for partners
November 12, 2025
The West North Avenue Development Authority (WNADA) will hold its final comprehensive planning meeting on Saturday, Nov. 15 from 10 a.m.-noon at Coppin State University’s Tawes Ballroom.
WNADA’S executive director, Chad Williams, announced the meeting in a message sent to the West North Avenue community. He also announced the end of the comprehensive planning phase of revitalizing the West North Avenue corridor and its 16 historic neighborhoods.
Read ArticleBaltimore Vacants Reinvestment Council releases 2025 annual report
November 10, 2025
The Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Council (BVRC) released its fiscal year (FY) 2025 annual report on Oct. 20. Established in October 2024 by Gov. Wes Moore (D) through his Reinvest Baltimore executive order, the council brings together community, government, corporate and philanthropic leaders under the mission of revitalizing 5,000 vacant properties.
The new report lays out how city, state and private partners are aligning $100 million in state funding across FY25 and FY26 to aid coordinated, whole-block redevelopment strategies aimed at building stronger neighborhoods. The $100 million will help fund demolition and renovation of more than 2,000 vacant properties in the city. five years.
Read ArticleTrump administration demands states ‘undo’ full SNAP
payouts
November 9, 2025President Donald Trump’s administration is demanding states “undo” full SNAP benefits paid out under judges’ orders last week, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has stayed those rulings, marking the latest swing in a seesawing legal battle over the anti-hunger program used by 42 million Americans.
The demand from the U.S. Department of Agriculture came as more than two dozen states warned of “catastrophic operational disruptions” if the Trump administration does not reimburse them for those SNAP benefits they authorized before the Supreme Court’s stay.
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Maryland Workers Impacted by Recent Federal Actions
On October 1st, Governor Wes Moore announced a series of additional actions to help Marylanders impacted by the federal shutdown. These actions reinforce the Moore-Miller Administration’s commitment to supporting Marylanders. This webpage outlines resources available to impacted federal employees and contractors.
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The false promise of zoning bills being pitched as a path to affordable housing
October 20, 2025
Councilman Ryan Dorsey and Mayor Brandon Scott are instituting a sweeping overhaul of Baltimore zoning rules that will hurt residents of this “city of neighborhoods” [OP-ED]
As community leaders who have grappled with the same stubborn housing problems that plague so many Baltimore neighborhoods – lack of safe affordable housing, unscrupulous real estate speculators, absentee landlords, gentrification – we were intrigued when lawmakers unveiled legislation meant to bring about positive change.
Read ArticleBill to slow affordable housing in Anne Arundel rejected by County Council
September 16, 2025The Democratic majority of the Anne Arundel County Council defeated a Republican-backed bill designed to roll back an incentive for developers to build more affordably priced housing.
The 4-3 vote along party lines followed impassioned public testimony at the end of a four-hour legislative meeting Monday night. The result marks a victory for proponents for expanding housing, but disappointed a Glen Burnie community that mobilized in opposition to an affordable-housing development there.
It means one of the county’s landmark housing laws remains undisturbed, for now.
Maryland Members of Congress Denied Tour of Baltimore ICE Detention Site
July 28, 2025
A half-dozen Maryland Congress members Monday were denied access to a federal immigration field office used to temporarily hold people facing deportation, and where detainee conditions are being challenged in a lawsuit.
Democratic Sens. Angela Alsobrooks and Chris Van Hollen and Reps. Kweisi Mfume, Glenn Ivey, Sarah Elfreth and Johnny Olszewski Jr. gained access to the sixth floor of the George H. Fallon Federal Building, home of the Baltimore field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
But they weren’t allowed any farther.
The field office’s acting director, Nikita Baker, came out into the hallway and denied them a tour based on a directive she’d been given from “headquarters,” she said.
Read Article
It’s Not Just Childless Adults: Kids Could Get Hurt by Medicaid, SNAP Cuts
July 27, 2025
Massive cuts under President Donald Trump’s signature spending bill could be an “unmitigated disaster” for kids, even though they aren’t the direct targets of the largest slash to Medicaid and food stamps in the nation‘s history, some who work with families and social services said.
While kids will still be eligible for their coverage under federal health care and food programs, cuts outlined in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” will impact the adults in children’s lives, causing challenges for whole families. The bill could reduce access to free school lunches and create additional hoops for parents who rely on federal assistance.
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As Baltimore’s Massive Permit Backlog Persists, City Council’s Patience Runs Thin
July 22, 2025
One Baltimore resident had to beg her council member to intervene to secure a permit to fix a leaky roof. A developer tackling a long-vacant building has lost $10,000 a month as he waits for permits requested in February. A restaurant owner must seek an extension from the city’s Liquor License Board due to a six-month delay on a permit to install electrical outlets.
Weeks after Baltimore leaders sounded the alarm about massive backlogs in the city’s newly instituted permitting system, housing and building permits issued by the city continue to lag well behind previous years.
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Gov. Wes Moore announced who will receive $50 million in grant awards to help reduce the number of vacant properties in Baltimore City.July 8, 2025
These grants are through the Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative (BVRI), a program that helps redevelop vacant properties.
Awardees include Baltimore Redlining and Blight Elimination CDC, Coppin Heights CDC, Park Heights Rennaisance, South Baltimore Gateway Partnership, and many other groups and community organizations.
Read MoreThe Best Ways to Celebrate Juneteenth Around Baltimore This Week
Live music, symbolic eats, educational experiences, and supporting local Black-owned businesses are top of mind as Baltimoreans commemorate Juneteenth—the holiday that dates back to June 19, 1865, when the last enslaved people were freed in Galveston, Texas more than two years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
June 17, 2025
Though Juneteenth has been celebrated since the late 1800s, it wasn’t recognized as a federal holiday until 2021. Since then, festivities have grown across the country—and Baltimore is no exception.
From food and film screenings to gospel concerts and garden parties, the area offers plenty of ways to make the holiday meaningful this year...
READ ARTICLEHouse Reconciliation Bill Will Harm Kids, Families
May 19, 2025Washington, D.C., May 19, 2025 – Bread for the World issued the following statement on the House of Representative’s budget reconciliation package, which is expected to be voted on this week.
“The House budget reconciliation package does little to help the most vulnerable families and instead includes numerous provisions that will push millions of children deeper into hunger and poverty. Bread for the World opposes this harmful package and strongly urges lawmakers to reject it,” said Rev. Eugene Cho, president and CEO of Bread for the World.
The reconciliation package makes significant changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in order to cut $290 billion from the program over ten years – the largest single reduction of domestic food assistance ever enacted. The bulk of the funding cuts come from pushing costs of the program on to states, imposing strict work requirements on unmarried couples, single parents, and other guardians with children over six and older adults up to age 64, and limiting future benefit increases.
On May 13, Rev. Cho sent a letter to House Agriculture Committee Chairman G.T. Thompson, Ranking Member Angie Craig, and members of the Committee outlining Bread’s concerns with the harmful SNAP provisions.
Read ArticleMay 14, 2025 - This Just In!
Our partner, Bread for the World is on Capital Hill TODAY in the room where SNAP cuts are being voted on the House Agriculture Committee. They coalition is paused to pray in the halls of Congress. Will you join us in Prayer for SNAP AND write Congress?
View VideoHunger in Your Neighborhood: How Families Fare with Food Insecurity Across Maryland
May 5, 2025
For a long time, we’ve known that food insecurity has a negative effect on Marylanders. But as we continue to gather more, and take a deeper dive into local data, our research and reports are showing some surprising information about how much where families live affects how much hunger impacts their lives.
Geography plays a role in which of the different root causes (lack of financial resources, transportation or dependent care challenges, etc.) families are forced to overcome.
Our colleagues at the United Way of Central Maryland offer excellent insights into the intersection of geography & hunger, through their A.L.I.C.E. Report.
Budget Reconciliation Update: Cuts to SNAP are Cuts to School Meals
May 2, 2025
This week, the House Education and Workforce Committee, which has jurisdiction over the federal child nutrition programs, including school breakfast and lunch, unveiled legislation that would cut $330 billion in federal spending by gutting higher education programs and support. This bill was passed out of committee and now heads to the Budget Committee, where it will be bundled with other committee bills before it is considered on the House Floor.
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On Baltimore’s East side, rehabbing – not razing – a blighted block.
April 29, 2025
Sixty years ago when Sharon Duncan was a girl, her mother rented their two-story rowhouse on Mura Street for $12 a week.
By the time Sharon was an adult and employed at a hospital, she moved a few doors away and paid a landlord $275 a month. Given the option of buying the house, she jumped in at $15,000.
She’s lived on Mura Street, in Johnston Square, for 40 years now – long after most of her neighbors left.
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CRS Urges Congress to Prioritize Critical Poverty-Reducing Humanitarian Aid in FY26 Appropriations
April 2, 2025
WASHINGTON, D.C.– Bill O'Keefe, Executive Vice President of Catholic Relief Services (CRS), along with other organizations, is urgently calling on Congress to protect and prioritize poverty-reducing international humanitarian and development assistance in FY26 Appropriations.
In a written testimony submitted to the House Subcommittee on National Security and the Department of State, O'Keefe urged Congress to maintain funding for critical programs that address global health, development, disaster relief and migration challenges. The total funding request for these programs amounts to about $30 billion.
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Scale and speed’: State wants to fast-track redeveloping Baltimore’s vacants
April 2, 2025
$50 million will start hitting the streets July 1, Maryland’s housing secretary said six months ago. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore packed into a crowded multipurpose room at a West Baltimore community center and set an ambitious goal: knocking 5,000 vacant homes off the city’s tally in five years.
Since then, a group of some of the city’s and state’s most prominent movers and shakers have attended monthly gatherings on the 17th floor of a Downtown Baltimore office tower, outlining, debating and raising questions about how to reach that lofty benchmark. These conversations have publicly displayed just how tangled Baltimore’s web of blight has become...Read Article
Lawmakers want to protect immigrants despite Trump threats, but options are limited
March 31, 2025The General Assembly may seek to prevent cooperation with federal immigration authoritiesIn the final days of the legislative session, Maryland lawmakers are considering a series of bills aimed at protecting the state’s immigrant communities from the Trump administration’s sweeping mass-deportation efforts. Three main bills being debated would prevent U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, from accessing state databases without a warrant; keep ICE out of private areas of “sensitive locations” like public schools and libraries; and block local police and sheriffs from signing enforcement agreements with ICE. But the nature of the American immigration system means there are limits on what state lawmakers can do, a challenge that has brought intense debates and amendments to the bills throughout the session..
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Catholics rally to aid LA wildfire victims. Here's what to donate
January, 2025(OSV News) -- As deadly wildfires ravage Los Angeles, Catholics are mobilizing to help those impacted.
Catholic Charities USA -- the official domestic relief agency of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and a member of Caritas Internationalis, the church’s global network of humanitarian organizations -- is now accepting donations to its Los Angeles Wildfire Relief initiative, which can be accessed through the agency’s website at catholiccharitiesusa.org.
“As usual, 100% of the funds raised go directly to our local agencies in the affected areas who are offering emergency and long-term relief to those who have been displaced or are suffering as a result of the wildfires,” Kevin Brennan, CCUSA’s vice president for media relations and executive communications, told OSV News in a Jan. 9 email…
Observing Poverty Awareness Month
January 8, 2025Harry Schiffman, LMSW is a lecturer at Rutgers School of Social Work. He explains the significance of Poverty Awareness Month and ways social workers and allied professionals can observe it this month and beyond.
A Baltimore woman is challenging tax sale after losing her home
Tell us a bit about your journey to social work.
My journey to social work started as I watched my mother being active in the Borough Park community in Brooklyn where I grew up in the 1950s. She was active in both the synagogue that we belonged to and the yeshiva that I attended. She was always involved in community-wide events and activities.
December 24, 2024Still, homeowners have continued to fall through the cracks, sometimes due to technicalities and other times due to city errors.Others have unfairly rigged the system: Earlier this year, a Baltimore employee pleaded guilty to accepting cash bribes over a nearly eight-year period in exchange for removing some homes off the tax sale list.. In Maryland, municipalities are required to sell ....
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Governor Moore Signs Housing Legislation to Make Maryland More Affordable
April 26, 2024
ANNAPOLIS, MD – Governor Wes Moore today presided over the second bill signing ceremony of 2024, signing three housing bills dedicated to making Maryland more affordable. The bills, part of the Moore-Miller Administration’s 2024 legislative agenda, address concentrated poverty in Maryland’s marginalized communities, reduce instability in Maryland’s housing supply and affordability...
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St. Ignatius Catholic Community Joins BUILD Housing Public Action to End the Crisis of Vacant and Abandoned Homes in Our City
January 5, 2024
On Monday, December 11th at 6:30pm at Greater Harvest Baptist Church (1617 W. Saratoga St), St. Ignatius Catholic Community Justice & Peace representatives joined more than 550 faith & community leaders from across Baltimore as we gathered to press forward on our work to end the crisis of vacant & abandoned...
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Candra Healycandrahealyst-ignatius.netHunger, Housing & Poverty Committee Chair
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