Housing Partnership

Baltimore housing commissioner Robert Hearn will join members of the St. Ambrose Housing Aid Society and neighborhood leaders from around the city this month to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Intervention Buying Program.On June 7 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m., Mr. Hearn and the community leaders will gather at 2808 Erdman Ave., the latest house to be renovated and sold to an owner-occupant under the program, a partnership of the city, St. Ambrose, neighborhood groups and Harbor Federal Savings and Loan.

FOR A NUMBER of years, the Baltimore Housing Partnership was held up as a model of what a nonprofit developer can achieve in cooperation with governments and the private sector. It kept expanding and taking gambles. In the end, it overextended itself so badly it is now going out of business.The partnership's collapse is a wake-up call to the nonprofit-development sector -- just like the demise of the City Life Museums last year was a red flag to the museum community. Being classified as nonprofit for tax purposes does not mean that an organization can live in defiance of fundamental economic laws.

FOR A NUMBER of years, the Baltimore Housing Partnership was held up as a model of what a nonprofit developer can achieve in cooperation with governments and the private sector. It kept expanding and taking gambles. In the end, it overextended itself so badly it is now going out of business.The partnership's collapse is a wake-up call to the nonprofit-development sector -- just like the demise of the City Life Museums last year was a red flag to the museum community. Being classified as nonprofit for tax purposes does not mean that an organization can live in defiance of fundamental economic laws.

Moving to enhance equal housing opportunities in Baltimore, the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors and the Maryland office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development signed a new Fair Housing Partnership Agreement yesterday.The partnership stems from a collaborative agreement between the National Association of Realtors and HUD in December that stipulates similar agreements on the local level. The GBBR is the second real estate board in the country to sign a fair housing partnership agreement with its local HUD office.

Two members of the Baltimore Regional Council of Governments' Housing Partnership Task Force met with county officials Thursday to discuss a preliminary plan for producing more affordable housing.The 20-member task force, which includes Carroll Bureau of Housing and Community Development Chief Marie Kienker, has been meeting since January to determine ways to reduce barriers inhibiting production of affordable housing in the region and mobilize support from industry and local governments.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have signed a new fair housing partnership agreement to replace the Voluntary Affirmative Marketing Agreement that had been in effect for more than two decades.The signing took place earlier this month at a meeting of organizations participating with HUD in the "National Partners in Home Ownership" plan to raise the nation's homeownership to a record 67.5 percent by the year 2000.NAR is one of more than 50 organizations in the "Partners" plan.

Moving to enhance equal housing opportunities in Baltimore, the Greater Baltimore Board of Realtors and the Maryland office of the Department of Housing and Urban Development signed a new Fair Housing Partnership Agreement yesterday.The partnership stems from a collaborative agreement between the National Association of Realtors and HUD in December that stipulates similar agreements on the local level. The GBBR is the second real estate board in the country to sign a fair housing partnership agreement with its local HUD office.

Sometime within the next two weeks, David Smith will go from home renter to homeowner. He won't have to move an inch, and the change will save him nearly $200 a month.Smith is one of the occupants of 30 single-family homes in the city taken over last year by the Maryland Housing Fund, the unit in the state Department of Housing and Community Development that insures state housing loans.John MacLean, the state official charged with disposing of the 30 properties, said the primary goal is to get as many tenants as possible to buy the homes, formerly owned by the Baltimore Housing Partnership.

Six years after Baltimore's Education Department vacated its 25th street headquarters, the two-building complex has become the biggest city-owned eyesore in South Charles Village -- with trash, broken windows and peeling paint.While the city still owns the property, responsibility for its maintenance is now in the hands of the Baltimore Housing Partnership -- the nonprofit developer that has the rights to the buildings. Baltimore Housing took over the buildings in May 1992, and plans to convert one of them to housing for the elderly.

Baltimore's former school administration headquarters on East 25th Street, vacant for half a decade, could be converted to a $6 million housing and office complex by the fall of 1993 if city officials accept a proposal from the Baltimore Corporation for Housing Partnerships.The non-profit housing group, which has its headquarters half a block east of the city-owned school property, submitted a proposal last month to create 56 apartments, office space and a community day-care center in the two-building complex.

Harbel Housing Partnership sponsoring free workshopHarbel Housing Partnership is sponsoring a free workshop for home sellers at 6: 30 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Towson Library, 320 York Road.Topics will include methods of selling a house, preparing a property for sale, home inspection, financing presale repairs and mortgages for the seller's next home.Information or reservations: 410-444-2100.Open house to be held in Original NorthwoodThe Original Northwood Neighborhood Association will sponsor a Community Open House from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 12.The neighborhood, in North Baltimore between Loch Raven Boulevard and The Alameda, is known for its tree-lined streets.

Sometime within the next two weeks, David Smith will go from home renter to homeowner. He won't have to move an inch, and the change will save him nearly $200 a month.Smith is one of the occupants of 30 single-family homes in the city taken over last year by the Maryland Housing Fund, the unit in the state Department of Housing and Community Development that insures state housing loans.John MacLean, the state official charged with disposing of the 30 properties, said the primary goal is to get as many tenants as possible to buy the homes, formerly owned by the Baltimore Housing Partnership.

Even as it was sinking deeper into debt, the nonprofit Baltimore Housing Partnerships was paying thousands of dollars a year in bonuses to members of its staff.The bonuses were paid through 1995 before being halted, and ranged from about $300 to as much as $10,000 a year, depending on the performance of the individual employee and the agency as a whole, past and present officials said.Disclosure of the bonus payments comes as the partnership is trying to renegotiate the terms of millions of dollars in loans with the state Department of Housing and Community Development and two private lenders.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have signed a new fair housing partnership agreement to replace the Voluntary Affirmative Marketing Agreement that had been in effect for more than two decades.The signing took place earlier this month at a meeting of organizations participating with HUD in the "National Partners in Home Ownership" plan to raise the nation's homeownership to a record 67.5 percent by the year 2000.NAR is one of more than 50 organizations in the "Partners" plan.

Century 21 opens Web site, listing data on 358 areasCentury 21 Real Estate Corp. has launched a Web site on America Online's real estate page to provide homebuyers with information on Baltimore and 111 other communities across North America.The "Century 21 Communities" Web site includes data on attractions, government and transportation.Information on the site will be "continually updated and expanded" by its network of approximately 5,000 brokers nationwide, according to Century 21.Rankings of 358 metropolitan areas based on cost of living, education, arts and culture, recreation, health care, crime, housing and employment is another feature of "Century 21 Communities."

Five months after tearing down a huge, decrepit high-rise project, Baltimore is moving to replace some of the housing for poor families elsewhere by renovating vacant rowhouses and a rundown apartment complex.Yesterday, the Board of Estimates approved creating 13 public housing units as part of a $2.5 million overhaul of an apartment complex in the Coldstream-Homestead-Montebello neighborhood.The step is part of a broad redevelopment plan to provide new subsidized and market-rate rental housing for low-income families.

Baltimore's former school administration headquarters on East 25th Street, vacant for half a decade, could be converted to a $6 million housing and office complex by the fall of 1993 if city officials accept a proposal from the Baltimore Corporation for Housing Partnerships.The non-profit housing group, which has its headquarters half a block east of the city-owned school property, submitted a proposal last month to create 56 apartments, office space and a community day-care center in the two-building complex.

Harbel Housing Partnership sponsoring free workshopHarbel Housing Partnership is sponsoring a free workshop for home sellers at 6: 30 p.m. Oct. 7 at the Towson Library, 320 York Road.Topics will include methods of selling a house, preparing a property for sale, home inspection, financing presale repairs and mortgages for the seller's next home.Information or reservations: 410-444-2100.Open house to be held in Original NorthwoodThe Original Northwood Neighborhood Association will sponsor a Community Open House from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 12.The neighborhood, in North Baltimore between Loch Raven Boulevard and The Alameda, is known for its tree-lined streets.

Six years after Baltimore's Education Department vacated its 25th street headquarters, the two-building complex has become the biggest city-owned eyesore in South Charles Village -- with trash, broken windows and peeling paint.While the city still owns the property, responsibility for its maintenance is now in the hands of the Baltimore Housing Partnership -- the nonprofit developer that has the rights to the buildings. Baltimore Housing took over the buildings in May 1992, and plans to convert one of them to housing for the elderly.

The federal government may have spent nearly $4 million to construct new apartments next to the Penn North subway station, but the highest praise at yesterday's opening ceremonies was bestowed on some of the least expensive touches.Touches such as the ornate wallpaper in the residents' lounge near the front entrance.Or the 17 sepia-toned photographs that depict Pennsylvania Avenue in the 1940s.Or the green and white floor tiles in the kitchen of Theodore Burrell's fifth-floor apartment."They did a nice job," said the 62-year-old retired painter, who moved in a week ago. "I'm very lucky to be here."