'Proud moment': Baltimore mayor touts progress in combatting homelessness through federal partnerships

BALTIMORE - Baltimore City Mayor Brandon Scott is making a commitment to combat homelessness.

The mayor touted the City's progress in addressing the issue while participating in the House America initiative.

Scott said within the past year, the City housed more than 1,400 households experiencing homelessness through the partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Baltimore also developed more than 2,500 affordable housing units.

"Our goal is to make homelessness rare, brief or a one-time occurrence," Mayor Scott said. "That is why we were more than willing to join other cities across the country in this significant House America efforts."

Renee Lau, who was once homeless, now lives at Old Sojourner, an affordable housing complex along Preston Street.

Lau said because of the program, she has come a long way since losing her job, and her home last year.

"It does not take much to turn around and look to see which homes are in despair and which homes are vacant," Lau said. "This is like a beautiful monolith for this side of town."

Baltimore is one of 105 cities across 31 states and territories and the District of Columbia that joined the initiative in collaboration with the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness on the House America initiative, an effort to address the nation's homelessness crisis. 

Mayor Scott committed to House America in May of 2022. He said the work doesn't stop here in addressing homelessness in Baltimore.

"This is a proud moment because we are able to help those who need it the most," Mayor Scott said. "Everybody deserves a safe, stable place to call home."

And since then, Baltimore City has housed 1,443 households and added more than 2,500 affordable housing units in the development pipeline, partly with federal funding support and technical assistance from HUD.

"We were very intentional in our effort to meet the needs of our neighbors experiencing homelessness," Mayor Scott said. "I'm so pleased we not only met but exceeded our 2022 goals, and we will keep striving to make homelessness a rare and brief occurrence."

Scott said a few things Baltimore City has planned include:

• Establishing the parameters for the Rapid Resolution and Flex Fund, and we will kick off shelter diversion training this spring.
• Issuing an RFP for Rapid Rehousing, and contracts have been approved by the City's Board of Estimates, and enrolling households in this program.
• Creating a Housing Accelerator Fund to help build and revitalize more affordable housing and grow our housing supply." 

Officials point to Baltimore as one of the successes in the House America effort, with a goal of reducing homelessness by 25 percent by 2025.

"All Baltimoreans deserve to live in safe, affordable housing," said Irene Agustin, director of the Mayor's Office of Homeless Services. "Over 1,400 Baltimoreans were rehoused in 2022 and this achievement is representative of the hard work of the entire homeless services community."

In last year's point-in-time count, Baltimore City showed a significant drop in those experiencing homelessness with 1,600 hundred counted in one night.

Kevin Lindamood, of Health Care for the Homeless, describes a snowball effect when people have stable homes.

"Emergency department visits go down, hospitalizations go down, overall health goes up, public safety costs go down," Lindamood said.

"The anxiety goes away because you know now there's a tomorrow," Lau said. "When you're homeless, you don't know if there's going to be a tomorrow."

In 2022, a man experiencing homelessness died after detectives said he was set on fire.

It wasn't far from the camp under the JFX. The city cleared it in the Fall to make way for the weekly Farmer's Market.

Last year, Mayor Scott announced over $90 million in federal funding for the city's long-term response to homelessness. Of that funding, $75 million was from the city's $641 million American Rescue Plan Act funding and $15.4 million from the HUD's HOME Investment Partnerships Program.  

Nationally, the House America effort housed more than 100,000 households experiencing homelessness and added more than 40,000 affordable housing units into development, exceeding the goal that was set in September 2021.