The Politics Meister

Posted on Thursday, April 8th, 2010 at 8:11 am

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I usually am not a fan of anything pertaining to the federal “American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009″. I am not a fan of any large federal government program because there is always corruption and insiders making huge profits off of the taxpayer. If the banks would have not been bailed out then they would have been forced to liquidate their assets and the housing market would have flooded. Prices would have dropped to record lows across the country and more people would be able to afford to be home owners. This did not happen and we have to deal with the reality on the ground.

The Federal Government created something called the “Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2” (NSP2).  The NSP2 program is going to provide money to help potential homeowners purchase homes (I believe most of them will be foreclosures or bank owned) in Reservoir Hill where I live. I do not know all the specifics (and the specifics really do not matter in this context), but Healthy Neighborhoods Inc. will be managing the funds that are designated for Reservoir Hill. This is a program that will be mostly consumer driven. Instead of a developer saying that he is going to fix up ten houses and then sell them, this program will allow potential homeowners to come to Healthy Neighborhoods and tell them that they are interested in a specific house.   The purchaser will not have to worry about a developer’s profit margin or tastes. If you have ever thought about moving to Reservoir Hill then you should seriously consider this incredibly unique opportunity. The houses are large and cheap, and the government is providing a substantial subsidy! Please contact the Reservoir Hill Neighborhood Association at reshill@reshill.net if you have any interest.

This story obviously hits very close to home for me. I can guarantee you that if you want to be an ‘Urban Homesteader” in Reservoir Hill that I will give you the necessary emotional support and advice whenever you need it. There is an entire network of people in this neighborhood who will eagerly support any new home owner occupant who is up for the Reservoir Hill Challenge. The amount of neighborhood stability that a new home owner occupant contributes by moving here and replacing an empty house is immeasurable.

Back in 2001 when I came up with the “Buy a Block” concept there were many people who could not grasp the idea of getting rid of the developer middleman and focusing on the individual home buyer. I stayed true to my beliefs and encouraged individuals to buy houses on the 2200 block of Linden. I knew that getting individual home owners into houses was much more efficient and helpful than getting developers’ hands on empty houses and leaving it up to them when and how much to sell the houses for. My block has substantially improved on many different levels since 2003 when I first moved in. On the 2200 and 2300 blocks of nearby Callow Avenue where a politically connected “developer” was awarded houses, the great majority of those houses are still empty and little has changed for the positive because of the use of the traditional development model. I have been told that if you want to start your own “buy a block” project in Reservoir Hill that all you have to do is gather up potential home owners, get them in touch with Healthy Neighborhoods, and select the houses and you too can end up with like-minded new individuals in an urban homesteading environment. You might even end up buying some of those houses that the “developer” controls on Callow!

The federal government is funding a project that allows individuals to replicate the idea behind my buy-a-block project. I definitely feel a sense of vindication. It’s unfortunate that the Baltimore power structure had to learn the hard way and did not adopt more creative urban rejuvenation models a few years ago.