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Podcast length: 14 min., 54 sec.Owning a home is the American Dream, and no one brings that dream to life better than Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake. For more than 25 years, Habitat has worked with its partner families to build hundreds of affordable homes in and around Baltimore. Demanding nothing more than the sweat-equity of its partner families and the repayment of a 0% interest, no-profit mortgage, Habitat is leading the effort to alleviate the lack of affordable housing in our city.
Spearheading that effort is Habitat’s CEO Mike Mitchell. Mike stopped-in to talk with the Rapport about a variety of topics, including his thoughts Baltimore’s affordable housing dearth and the need for increased code enforcement to prevent neighborhood blight. Mike also gave us the scoop on Habitat’s latest endeavor: the recent construction of nine environmentally-friendly, modular homes in East Baltimore.
This podcast is a must listen for anyone interested in the future of affordable housing in Baltimore.
[...] Mike Miller, CEO of the Chesapeake region’s arm of Habitat for Humanity, appeared on the Baltimore Rapport podcast last week to discuss how the city’s surplus of vacant housing is more than a problem of aesthetics, and how his organization is trying to connect working people to these empty homes. When people are able to own their own homes in these kinds of neighborhoods they can build wealth, the community can stabilize, and there are actual stakeholders in the viability of that community. People that own their own homes care more deeply about what’s going on in their neighborhoods than renters, or squatters, or whoever is haunting the vacant rowhouses of countless Baltimore neighborhoods. Mitchell also mentioned that when the ownership rate in a neighborhood increases, things like crime and education are also positively impacted. He blamed the market of speculators that are passing off the deeds to these vacants to one another, never occupying or improving them, holding out for a payday. The segment was a fascinating reminder that the more visible consequences of an unhealthy city – crime, low-performing schools, homelessness – begin with things like vacant rowhomes. Listen to the full podcast. [...]