Release: Landlords Encouraged to Participate in housing the homeless
Posted by Jeff Quinton on February 21, 2008The following letter was sent to landlords in Baltimore City:
Landlords Encouraged to Participate in housing the homeless
January 8, 2008
Dear Property Owner/Property Manager:
Mayor Sheila Dixon has made an unprecedented commitment to end homelessness in Baltimore City within the next ten (10) years. Mayor Dixon and a Leadership Council of 35 community leaders have developed a Ten (10) Year Plan to End Homelessness.
The Plan
In the planning process, the lack of affordable housing was cited as a key reason why people are homeless. The plan includes an aggressive strategy to increase affordable housing.
We need your help in providing units to individuals and families who have experienced homelessness for a long period of time or have multiple barriers to housing. The Housing Choice Voucher Program will provide rental subsidies for this purpose.
Baltimore Homeless Services will offer case management services to all individuals and families moving into these housing units. In addition, security deposits and furnishings will also be provided.
How You Can Help Provide Housing Units
To provide units for this program, please call 410-396-3757 at Baltimore Homeless Services and ask for Cynthia Williams or Eugene Little to request information.
We hope that we can count on you to become an important partner in our work to end homelessness in the City of Baltimore within the next ten years.
Sincerely,
Diane Glauber
President
Baltimore Homeless Services
Comment by Lucian Ilardi
So the mayor is attempting to end homelessness by asking landlords to home the homeless? Please tell me there is a Plan B. Surely the mayor of Baltimore has better ideas, and if not, perhaps she could get ideas from other cities that have had success in this endeavor, such as NYC. If the homeless are mentally disabled persons incabable of caring for themselves, then they belong in a mental health institution. Those that can take care of themselves should be given incentives for finding a job, and should be provided shelters in the meantime. It is a dead end situation for both landlords and the homeless to ask landlords, who work for a living, to contribute to a failed policy at their expense.
Comment by Wayne
A lot of Balmur landlords seem excited by this, but am I the only one that can see that the emperor has no clothes here? I mean, ending homelessness is great and all, but lack of affordable housing is NOT the primary cause of homelessness; mental illness and addiction are the primary causes…but those are too difficult to fix…so it MUST be the greed of the landlords, right?
So what shall we do…hey, let’s spend more tax dollars to put these people that SHOULD be in a hospital in housing in general housing out among the general public. That way, when they’re cooking their crack, they can burn down several houses at a time!
If the problem were REALLY lack of affordable housing, she should offer tax credits for landlords who agree to let the tenants stay in the houses - with rent paid for by the city - for three years. This way, landlords would EAT UP these boarded up blocks, rehab them into multi unit buildings, rent them out through the city program. Thus, the blight of these vacant blocks is ended, the homeless have a place to live, and everybody wins. But that would cut into tax revenue, and we all know THAT ain’t gonna happen.
Maybe it’s just me.