Carrollton Ridge Housing Strategy
Housing strategy for Carrollton Ridge · BMOD advising · In planning
Impact · Design · Make · Develop · Work
U Empower of Maryland (UEM) is a nonprofit in Carrollton Ridge, a neighborhood in Southwest Baltimore. At its community resource hub at 424 S. Pulaski St., UEM runs The Food Project, which offers its neighbors weekly pop-up food markets, healthy meals, fresh produce and pantry items, nutrition education and culinary job training. For UEM, housing is the next step in meeting the community’s needs. BMOD is advising UEM as it plans new homes for the blocks around its hub.
The Food Project (U Empower of Maryland), 424 S. Pulaski St., in Carrollton Ridge. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors; neighborhood boundaries from Baltimore City.
The idea
Carrollton Ridge has many vacant rowhouses and empty lots. UEM wants to see them become homes for families in the neighborhood. The vision comes from UEM and its neighbors.
BMOD’s part is to help turn that vision into a plan that can be built and paid for. The plan would look at whole blocks, not one row of houses. Repeatable designs, built with factory-made parts where that makes sense, would help the numbers work at the scale of a neighborhood. Bringing nearby organizations into the plan would make a stronger case for public investment.
What BMOD is doing now
BMOD is advising UEM on how to proceed with the project and how to fund it. That includes research into the public programs and foundations that pay for planning before any house is built.
We have also outlined a possible scope of work, organized by BMOD’s six activities. The first step would be to set the vision and goals with UEM and the community. Everything else would be scoped against them.
How it connects to the six activities
01 Impact. Setting the vision and goals with UEM and the community. A homeowner stabilization plan, so owners who already live on these blocks can stay as new homes arrive. Early conversations with City and State agencies about permits, and bringing nearby organizations together around the plan.
02 Design. Working out the space each household needs. Repeatable house designs, suited to factory-made parts, that could be used across many properties.
03 Make. Exploring how the homes could be made nearby, from a microfactory serving the area to a small workshop in the neighborhood. Pooling demand with other community organizations, so a manufacturer can price the work well.
04 Develop. A neighborhood housing plan built on a parcel-by-parcel map of the blocks. An assessment of the houses that stand today. Organizing everyone who delivers the homes to work as one team. Research into funding, and help with grant applications.
05 Work. A path from this construction into local jobs, including building maintenance and property management, with hiring from the neighborhood.
Where it stands
BMOD is advising UEM as it plans the project. We will share more here as the plan takes shape, with UEM’s okay.