Baltimore City Hall — Baltimore officials on Tuesday outlined the city’s acquisition strategy for vacant properties and gave an update on in rem (INREM) foreclosure filings, saying the city has ramped staffing and systems but needs additional legal and court capacity and state funding to reach an internal goal of 200 filings per month.

The oversight hearing, convened by Committee Chair James Torrance and Vice Chair Councilwoman Ramos, focused on how the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) uses negotiated purchase, donation, condemnation and tax-lien foreclosure — including judicial INREM foreclosure — to acquire vacant buildings and lots for reuse. Councilwoman Ramos said the city’s public dashboard currently lists “12,378 vacant and abandoned properties,” and emphasized the committee’s interest in transparency and resources to scale filings.

Housing Commissioner Alice Kennedy told the committee the INREM work “is central to our broader vacancy reduction strategy” and described a strategy that pairs parcel- and block-level planning with community partners to achieve “whole-block” outcomes. Kennedy and DHCD staff showed maps tying high VBN (vacant, blighted and neglected) density to historically disinvested neighborhoods and described a pipeline of acquisitions that includes donations, negotiated sales, condemnation and INREM filings.

DHCD described recent changes to increase filing capacity: the department’s development division has about 29 staff members with three vacancies; its legal section has grown to roughly 31 people, including 13 filing attorneys (one current opening) and five in-house title attorneys. Commissioner Kennedy said bringing title examination in-house removed a previous bottleneck and lets filing attorneys move cases forward more quickly.

Assistant Commissioner Joe Kirschner said filing attorneys currently average roughly 6 to 8 filings per month but typically manage an active caseload of about 50 to 60 cases each; he warned caseloads above about 60 become “untenable” and can slow completion times. Kirschner and DHCD also said they are testing third‑party notice production and other workflow efficiencies to increase throughput without degrading the quality of filings.

The committee pressed DHCD on capacity and funding. DHCD officials said a fiscal-year‑25 Baltimore Vacants Reinvestment Initiative (BVRI/BBRI) funding agreement will go to the Board of Estimates on Nov. 5 and is planned as a multi-year agreement covering FY25–FY27. Commissioner Kennedy said the state’s delayed execution of that funding and of a multi-party memorandum of understanding involving the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development and the Maryland Stadium Authority has pushed some acquisition activity roughly a year later than anticipated.

Officials described legal coordination efforts inside DHCD and with the courts. Staff said they are exploring pro bono or clinic-based approaches for extra legal capacity, but flagged prior quality-control problems when outside providers prepared filings but did not complete them; any pro bono arrangement would need ethics vetting and clear filing responsibilities. DHCD and the city reported ongoing conversations with court leadership about expanding magistrate capacity and courtroom days; at present DHCD said one magistrate is primarily hearing INREM dockets and staff recommended additional magistrate capacity rather than purely more court clerical support.

On prioritization, DHCD said acquisition choices are guided by block-level planning, impact investment areas and the Vacant Reduction Priority Geographies (VRPGs) that were developed to coordinate community-driven redevelopment in neighborhoods such as Broadway East, Johnson Square, Park Heights, Penn-North, Druid Heights, Upton, Carrollton Ridge, Brooklyn, Curtis Bay and Westport. DHCD noted some priority blocks have experienced rising assessed values and private rehabilitation, which reduces INREM eligibility because liens must exceed assessed value to qualify for INREM.

Committee members asked for more district-level transparency. DHCD committed to producing a monthly (or bimonthly) district-level pipeline report showing filed cases, completed cases and judgments, and said it would share maps showing assessed-value changes and INREM eligibility by district.

Committee members also asked about disposition after acquisition. DHCD said the city currently owns just over 900 properties of the roughly 12,388 identified as vacant on the public dashboard; some city-owned parcels are being held because they are “sandwiched” among still-vacant properties and are being assembled for larger block projects. DHCD has completed a multi-neighborhood request-for-qualifications to line up developers for disposition where properties are ready.

Council members repeatedly raised court capacity, staffing and the need to translate recent investments into faster completions. Councilwoman Ramos, who has advocated for removing the city’s five‑day post‑filing notice (a city requirement beyond state law), said eliminating some notice steps could save staff time, but DHCD noted the pre‑filing notice is required locally and that title insurers have indicated concerns about eliminating the post‑filing notice because it can affect title insurance outcomes. DHCD said it would further evaluate potential procedural changes with the state and the courts.

The committee did not take formal votes. Members and staff agreed to follow up on staffing numbers, the planned BOE funding item, district-level pipelines, assessed-value mapping that affects INREM eligibility and court capacity discussions.

Ending: Committee Chair Torrance closed the INREM oversight portion and moved the meeting to a separate informational hearing on permit reforms.