Most of the homes in Dundalk's historic "Ships" district date to the 1920s, when they provided housing for steel mill workers at Sparrows Point. A poster from that era hanging in a Dundalk office features a drawing of Uncle Sam assuring buyers that the homes were "scientifically and substantially built."
Until recently, the compact neighborhood of well-maintained stucco townhouses and duplexes off Dundalk Avenue was attracting new families and investors. But the national foreclosure crisis has hit those short, narrow streets hard, with at least eight vacant homes in various stages of foreclosure.
They are part of the nearly 40,000 foreclosures across Maryland in the past two years that have left neighborhoods coping with the blight of empty, poorly maintained and often vandalized houses that sorely need new owners. Now, local officials and community leaders say they hope that a new federally funded rescue plan will provide relief.
Maryland has received nearly $27 million - to be administered under the Neighborhood Conservation Initiative - to help communities attract qualified buyers to areas with high foreclosure rates. Baltimore County alone is asking for $4.4 million, and the County Council is expected to approve the grant application at its session today.
"There are far more foreclosed units here than we will ever be able to address," said Amy Menzer, executive director of the nonprofit Dundalk Renaissance Corp., located in historic Dundalk Village. "But this program gives people more opportunity to reinvest and turn these properties around."
The initiative "is a really good start in recovery for neighborhoods affected by foreclosure," said Carol Gilbert, assistant secretary of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. "In foreclosure, it is not just the homeowner affected but the neighborhood as a whole."
In all, 21 jurisdictions requested about $64 million - more than twice the available funds - from the state program. The state is expected to award the money this spring, Gilbert said.
"Unfortunately, there is not enough money to defeat the whole problem, but this is a good start in what will be a national recovery," Gilbert said. "We know in Maryland there will be high demand for fairly affordable housing stock."
According to the Department of Housing and Community Development, Prince George's County and Baltimore City have the highest numbers of foreclosures in the state, followed by Montgomery and Baltimore counties. There are pockets of foreclosures in the Edgewood area of Harford County and northern parts of Anne Arundel County.
