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How Baltimore's Mayor Is Fighting the City's Vacant Housing Crisis - Odd Lots
May 4, 2026 #Investing #Markets #Finance
Since Mayor Brandon Scott first took office in 2020, he's fixated on a very visible problem in Baltimore: the tens of thousands of vacant homes that dot the city. It's hard to build new houses when there are so many that sit empty and unused. And the process of tracking down owners, convincing them to sell their vacant properties, and then converting those homes into usable housing supply is a tall task. In the last few years, the number of vacant homes in Baltimore has dropped from 16,000 to just over 11,800. On this episode — recorded in Madrid while we attended the Bloomberg CityLab conference — we speak to Mayor Scott about deindustrialization, redlining, and gun violence's historical effects on the current housing crisis, how his government identifies, block-by-block, redevelopment opportunities and matches projects with publicly-minded developers, and why Baltimore natives aren't huge fans of The Wire.
Chapters:
00:00:01 - Cold Open: Baltimore's Transformation
00:01:18 - Introduction and Context Setting
00:03:47 - Guest Intro: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott
00:06:33 - Vacant Housing: Previous Approaches vs. New Strategy
00:10:20 - How Houses Become Vacant
00:13:04 - Balancing Public and Private Investment
00:17:17 - How Baltimoreans Feel About “The Wire”
00:18:35 - Decision-Making Process for Vacant Properties
00:21:23 - Tax Policy and Community Planning
00:25:08 - Crime Reduction as Economic Development Foundation
00:27:02 - Smart Policing vs. Mass Arrests
00:30:58 - Investment Community Response
00:32:18 - Financial Structure and Capital Sources
00:33:39 - Preventing Gentrification and Displacement
00:35:06 - Water Utility Challenges
00:37:14 - Economic Diversification and Future Industries
00:40:38 - Government Modernization
00:42:13 - Key Performance Indicators and AI Implementation
00:43:57 - Mayor Networks and Collaboration
00:44:54 - Baltimore Tourist Recommendations
00:46:55 - Closing Thoughts
Since Mayor Brandon Scott first took office in 2020, he's fixated on a very visible problem in Baltimore: the tens of thousands of vacant homes that dot the city. It's hard to build new houses when there are so many that sit empty and unused. And the process of tracking down owners, convincing them to sell their vacant properties, and then converting those homes into usable housing supply is a tall task. In the last few years, the number of vacant homes in Baltimore has dropped from 16,000 to just over 11,800. On this episode — recorded in Madrid while we attended the Bloomberg CityLab conference — we speak to Mayor Scott about deindustrialization, redlining, and gun violence's historical effects on the current housing crisis, how his government identifies, block-by-block, redevelopment opportunities and matches projects with publicly-minded developers, and why Baltimore natives aren't huge fans of The Wire.
Chapters:
00:00:01 - Cold Open: Baltimore's Transformation
00:01:18 - Introduction and Context Setting
00:03:47 - Guest Intro: Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott
00:06:33 - Vacant Housing: Previous Approaches vs. New Strategy
00:10:20 - How Houses Become Vacant
00:13:04 - Balancing Public and Private Investment
00:17:17 - How Baltimoreans Feel About “The Wire”
00:18:35 - Decision-Making Process for Vacant Properties
00:21:23 - Tax Policy and Community Planning
00:25:08 - Crime Reduction as Economic Development Foundation
00:27:02 - Smart Policing vs. Mass Arrests
00:30:58 - Investment Community Response
00:32:18 - Financial Structure and Capital Sources
00:33:39 - Preventing Gentrification and Displacement
00:35:06 - Water Utility Challenges
00:37:14 - Economic Diversification and Future Industries
00:40:38 - Government Modernization
00:42:13 - Key Performance Indicators and AI Implementation
00:43:57 - Mayor Networks and Collaboration
00:44:54 - Baltimore Tourist Recommendations
00:46:55 - Closing Thoughts