| Johns Hopkins Program Leads to More Baltimore City Homebuyers |
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MICUA Matters Summer 2010
The program was launched in 1997 to help Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health System employees become homeowners in Baltimore City while cutting down on commuting time, saving gasoline, and strengthening urban communities. The Live Near Your Work Program currently offers grants of up to $17,000 to help with down payments and closing costs for properties near various Johns Hopkins campuses.
Program director Michelle Carlstrom noted that, of the grants awarded this fiscal year, 28 were for home sales near the Homewood campus, including those in the Barclay and West Greenmount communities, situated southeast of Charles Village. “This is exactly how we wanted the program to work—to go out from historically strong neighborhoods and keep moving out to make a difference in emerging neighborhoods where home sales (previously) were flat,” she said. Carlstrom said that indicators are also promising in the area just north of the medical campus, the site of East Baltimore Development Inc.’s $1.8 billion revitalization project. |
Since Johns Hopkins launched a revamped and incentive-laden program aimed at distributing $5 million to help employees buy homes in select Baltimore City communities, 108 employees have been awarded $635,500 in grants, and more are expected to apply as the weather warms and the home-buying season kicks into high gear.