Baltimore County recently launched its Vacant Property Portal to fight blight and increase the housing supply.
Last week Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski released a new data portal displaying vacant properties in Baltimore County, expanding the administration’s ongoing efforts to increase government transparency.
According to Baltimore County:
“Providing the public with the tools they need to identify—and now view—vacant properties is another step in our ongoing work to find and transform today’s blighted and abandoned properties into tomorrow’s housing opportunities,” said Olszewski. “This portal continues our work to provide a more accessible and open government for everyone, including our first responders who will now have critical safety information about properties before arriving on the scene of a potential emergency.”
“Having the ability to identify, inspect and monitor vacant structures in Baltimore County is a game changer for us in Code Enforcement, and this new dashboard is a great way to share important data with residents and first responders,” said Director of Code Enforcement Adam Whitlock. “This process is yet another way we are able to coordinate efforts with County agencies to address issues and keep the public informed.”
“The safety of our firefighters and EMS providers is a top priority,” said Baltimore County Fire Chief Joanne Rund. “Fires at vacant properties can pose serious threats to Fire and EMS personnel, as recent tragedies in Baltimore City have shown. This new portal is a huge step forward in preventing injuries to the County’s first responders.”
Earlier this year, Baltimore County passed legislation to create the county’s first-ever process to designate properties as “vacant.” Under Baltimore County’s new Vacant Structures law, the Department of Permits, Approvals, and Inspections can now identify vacant structures, maintain an ongoing inventory of these buildings, and authorize the department to verify that the structure complies with all applicable laws, is not detrimental to the public health, safety, or a hazard to police officers or firefighters entering the structure in an emergency.
Since April, more than 160 properties have been identified and verified as vacant, and 10 have been resolved or remediated by either becoming occupied or being demolished.
The Baltimore County vacant properties portal is updated daily and includes detailed information on properties confirmed to be vacant, including:
- Property address
- Property owner
- Tax identification number
- Last date of inspection
This portal will be coordinated with the County’s 911 system – providing a warning for first responders on potential property hazards they could face when responding to emergency calls.
Residents who wish to report a property they believe may be vacant, may contact Baltimore County by calling 3-1-1 or using the BaltCoGo app.
The vacant properties portal joins Baltimore County’s growing set of resources that provide unprecedented transparency for residents and reflect Olszewski’s commitment to a more open and accountable government. Prior efforts include:
- Launching BCSTAT, Baltimore County’s first data-driven performance management program that aims to improve performance, ensure data quality, enhance transparency and increase accountability across government.
- Releasing the Baltimore County Open Budget platform to empower residents to explore the County’s budget in an online, easily understood format.
- Expanding Open Budget to include the Open Checkbook tool, which allows users to view County expenditures down to the individual check level.
- Creating a dashboard displaying detailed information about fatal and nonfatal opioid overdose incidents occurring in Baltimore County.
- Developing a food establishment closure dashboard displaying information regarding recent Baltimore County Department of Health food facility inspections.
- Providing a number of downloadable raw data sets related to numerous government functions and services.
Click here to view the Baltimore County vacant properties portal.
