Baltimore Agrees to ‘Historic’ Funding of Affordable Housing

City officials have agreed to fund an affordable housing trust, two years after Baltimore voters approved its creation, committing an eventual $20 million a year, which Mayor Catherine Pugh called “historic.”

Pugh and City Council leaders agreed to levy two excise taxes on certain real estate transactions and other allocations to fund a trust to create, rehabilitate and preserve more than 4,100 affordable housing units in the next decade. Activists say it will help fill a critical need in a city where low-income residents in particular struggle to find decent homes or apartments to rent or buy.