Half an hour before the Baltimore City Council’s August 21 meeting, a crowd of more than 30 people gathered outside City Hall. 

Tisha Guthrie, an organizer with Baltimore Renters United, stood with other residents, organizers, and union members. Among them were District 14 Councilperson Odette Ramos and City Council President Nick Mosby. 

The group represented the Baltimore Inclusionary Housing Coalition, and they were calling for a vote on a bill that would require affordable housing units to be created in certain residential projects. 

Guthrie led the crowd in chants throughout the rally: “More than a housing crisis, this is a human crisis!” “Housing is a human right! Fight, fight, fight!” 

Council Bill 22-0195 is one of the two bills the coalition is advocating for. 

It would “eliminate the loopholes and waivers in the prior inclusionary housing law that made it a failure,” according to a webpage by the League of Women Voters of Baltimore City, a member of the coalition. The bill would require developers to set aside 10 percent of units as affordable housing in residential projects that receive city funding or rezoning and have greater than 20 units. 

“‘Affordable’ means that a household earning less than 60% of Area Median Income (about $55,740 for a family of two) would pay rent that is no more than 30% of their income,” the website stated. 

Courtney Jenkins, president of the Metropolitan Baltimore AFL-CIO, said that with the average cost of rent in the city being $1,200 a month, renters are paying around $15,000 a year on housing. 

Since 54 percent of Baltimoreans make less than $60,000 annually, the price tag of housing is at least a quarter of their salary, if not more, he said. The National Equity Analysis estimates that more than 20,000 households in Baltimore City are behind on rent. 

“When we talk about living wages, we must couple that with what those wages afford us, and that includes the human right to adequate housing,” Jenkins said. “Unfortunately, lack of access to affordable housing and an overabundance of inadequate housing is not a new thing to working people, especially working people of color.”

There have been five hearings and 30 amendments to CB 22-0195 since its introduction in February 2022, Ramos, a sponsor of the bill, said in an interview. And yet it has not been brought before the full council for a vote. The coalition says this final step is long overdue. 

“I think any other amendments are active[ly] delaying this even further,” said Loraine Arikat, a member of the 1199SEIU Maryland/DC division, a union that represents healthcare workers. 

The law grants a six-month grace period before it goes into effect, Ramos said. That buffer gives time to gather advisory board appointees. 

But, of course, that period doesn’t begin until the law is passed, and in the meantime, housing rates will remain unattainable for that portion of Baltimore’s residents, which coalition members say has been going on far too long. 

“We cannot continue to make the poor homeless,” said Betty Bland-Thomas, president of the Historic Sharp Leadenhall Community Association. “We cannot continue to have families not have decent shelter. We cannot continue not to have access to affordable food. We cannot continue to accept this as a people.”

The last inclusionary housing policy was passed in 2007 and expired in June 2022, according to an inclusionary housing study commissioned by the Baltimore City Department of Housing & Community Development and completed by Enterprise Community Partners. 

That policy, however, only led to the development of 34 affordable housing units due to loopholes and waivers, Mosby said. 

“It’s shameful,” he said. “And we’re here to say that that’s wrong, and we’re here to do better.” 

Mosby said CB 22-0195 must create as many inclusionary housing units as possible across the whole city. 

“No matter your ZIP code, your socioeconomic status, new buildings — new quality buildings with affordable units — should be able to be available to you,” he told the crowd. “You should have quality development in communities that you’re most comfortable with, that you have cultural competency with, and that you wanna grow and stay growing in age in.” 

In the last few years, Mosby has found himself at odds with local housing activists. In late 2021, he introduced a legislative package titled “House Baltimore,” which aimed to provide low-income residents with opportunities to buy and rehabilitate existing Baltimore homes. It wasn’t well received, and Mosby apologized after a hearing to discuss the bill ended in chaos.

Ramos said she understands activists’ impatience but wants the bill to be done right. Though she said the bill has support from the Council, there is not a date set for the vote. To this, a collective “aw” of disappointment came from the crowd.  

CB 22-0195 will create an advisory board that must approve the developers’ plans before they can move forward in obtaining a permit, according to Ramos. She said the advisory board will ensure the enforcement of the program.

Members will be appointed by Mayor Brandon Scott, according to Matt Hill, an attorney for the Public Justice Center, a legal advocacy group and coalition member. 

The coalition will likely make recommendations for the board to the mayor, Hill said. 

Additionally, Ramos said that developers would not receive their subsidy until after completing the reporting procedures required by the bill.

“We think there might be too much subsidy going to the developers,” she said. 

Another bill, CB 23-0369, is coupled with the inclusionary housing policy that would create a high-performance inclusionary housing tax credit. 

The tax credit would give eligible property owners a 15 percent abatement of city property tax. 

There are more than 20 organizations in the coalition, Arikat said. It has been working on the inclusionary housing bill since before the lapse of the 2007 policy. 

“The fact that we down here and we asking for this is sad,” said Dámel Ross, a member of the city’s Office of Homeless Services’s Continuum of Care Youth Action Board. “It’s really sad. We deserve this. We worked hard for this.” 

While the crowd agreed, they were still energized. There was familial chatter as they checked in on one another. 

“We have become a family, and though we love one another, I think we would rather be gathering for other purposes,” Guthrie said. “So hopefully, the next time we gather, it’ll be celebratory.”

The post Housing for all appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Rain poured down as a crowd of 14 marched and rolled wheelchairs across East Pratt Street on the afternoon of June 24.  

“Rain or shine, build the Red Line!” they chanted.

The group is composed of members of the Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition, also known as “BTEC Nation.” BTEC is “a resolute, community-led organization advocating for equitable, reliable transit that improves quality of life and the environment,” its website states. 

“What do we want?” Baltimore County Delegate Sheila Ruth, a Democrat, asked the marching crowd.

“The Red Line!” they responded. 

“When do we want it?”

“Now!”

“Eight years ago,” Ruth added. 

They marched to commemorate the death of the Red Line light rail project, planned to connect Baltimore east to west, that Republican Governor Larry Hogan canceled in 2015. Hogan said the Red Line did not meet Baltimore’s needs and deemed it too expensive. He then invested the funds intended for the Red Line into highway projects, the Baltimore Sun reported. 

BTEC was born within hours of Hogan’s announcement to cancel the Red Line, the group’s President Samuel Jordan said in an interview in May. Some of its members, including Jordan and Gayle Briscoe, had been long-term followers of the project — Briscoe for over a decade. 

“For eight years, we have seen no expansion of public transit, no meaningful improvements in reliability, no meaningful reduction in commute times, no meaningful increase in frequency of bus service, and for eight years, we’ve had no significant investment in public transportation,” Jordan said. 

But the June gathering was also a celebration. 

In May, Democratic Governor Wes Moore passed the Transportation Equity Act, legislation unique to Maryland drafted by BTEC and sponsored by Ruth and Baltimore City Democratic Senator Jill Carter. 

The Transportation Equity Act requires a cost-benefit and equity analysis before changes to public transportation projects may occur.

Had the Transportation Equity Act been in effect then, Jordan says, the Red Line could not have been canceled because it would provide a beneficial and necessary service to many people of color. 

“It gives us an actual legal basis for objecting, opposing, and changing transit policy,” Jordan told Sheilah Kast on WYPR’s May 30 edition of “On the Record.”

In 2015, the NAACP filed a federal civil rights complaint against Maryland, arguing that Hogan violated Title VI of the Civil Rights of 1964, which protects Americans from being denied the benefits of federally funded programs based on race. 

Data from the National Equity Atlas shows that 28% of Baltimore City households do not own cars, compared to the national average of 9%. White households are least likely to be without cars, while more than one-third of Black households are carless. 

The complaint maintained that Black Baltimoreans were disproportionately impacted by the scrapping of the Red Line, but the case was “administratively closed” by the Department of Transportation under Donald Trump. 

Moore announced on June 15 that the Maryland Transit Authority would continue developing the Red Line in a move “to make sure that everyone in the region can get from where they live to where opportunity lies.” 

The proposed route runs 14 miles from Woodlawn to the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, providing access to economic, academic, social, and medical resources. Three stations would offer connections north and south via the MARC Penn line, light rail, and the Metro subway. 

BTEC is fighting for the light rail as the primary mode along the proposed route. Currently, the MTA Light Rail only runs north to south. Light rail set off from traffic in its own lane or in the median would improve travel times and increase reliability. 

“The light rail that we have now isn’t prioritized,” said Evan Gombert, a BTEC administrative worker. “It has to wait for traffic, traffic doesn’t wait for it.”

Jordan said Moore must have the original “stolen Red Line” completed, which had a record of decision that “authorizes the respective state transportation agency to proceed with design, land acquisition, and construction based on the availability of funds,” BTEC’s website states. 

The only thing needed, they say, is a re-evaluation of the 2012 Final Environmental Impact Statement.  

The analyses required by the Transportation Equity Act are necessary before changes can be made to existing public transportation services, and are therefore not applicable to the current Red Line project. 

However, the “MTA is committed to a robust, transparent community engagement approach built around equitable opportunity to both access information and inform the project as it advances,” Jerimiah Moerke, MTA director of media relations, said in an emailed statement in June. 

A detailed corridor study of the project that includes cost-benefit and impact analyses is set to be completed by the fall, according to the Red Line website. 

Corridor studies involve the MTA, its jurisdictional partners, and the public. They set area-specific goals and identify preferred transit options like “potential routes, modes and service characteristics,” according to the website for the Regional Transit Plan, a 25-year plan to improve public transportation across central Maryland. 

“We have a strong basis from which to move this project forward quickly, while still updating and modernizing the project to better meet our region’s needs and aspirations today,” Moerke said. 

The Red Line’s website says the relaunch “builds upon the extensive technical work and community engagement conducted prior to the 2015 cancellation of the project.”

The Red Line was being planned thoughtfully, attempting to avoid replicating the issues of other transportation in the city. A 2008 community compact summarized considerations for the Red Line that spoke to the intersectionality of transit and areas like sustainability, housing, economics, and community improvement. 

The Red Line’s development prompted plans to enhance the areas it ran through: additional green spaces, stormwater management, infrastructure restoration, and pedestrian and bicyclist priority.

The federal government under the Obama Administration in 2011 chose the Red Line among 13 other priority infrastructure projects nationwide “for an expedited permitting and environmental review process,” its Final Environmental Impact Statement said.

The goal was to employ local contractors and laborers for its construction. Hundreds of community members were involved in planning and feedback, with the potential for hundreds more throughout its lifespan. 

BTEC is also working on a petition campaign to establish a Baltimore Regional Transportation Authority so community members can make decisions regarding public transit. Currently, the state is responsible for Baltimore’s public transportation. 

They hope to collect 20,000 signatures to put a question for the establishment of a BRTA on the November 2024 ballot. 

As the group walked the streets of Baltimore, they pointed to passersby, telling them, “You deserve a Red Line!” Some shouted back their agreement.  

The post Baltimore Transit Equity Coalition commemorates, continues to fight for Red Line appeared first on Baltimore Beat.