Baltimore struggles to deal with decay, population loss

BALTIMORE — LaShelle Rollins’ rental house in West Baltimore is wedged between derelict properties valued only by street gangs, drug addicts and firefighters conducting arson drills. And even though her family’s $700-a-month residence sits across from a public school, they are among the few occupants of this desolate block.

Rollins is worn out by all the sounds of late-night interlopers stomping down the stairs of a musty wreck next door, a constant fear of fire set by vandals, the social isolation and the rats. With no faith in a prompt police response, they keep a bat at the ready.

“It’s like we’re a forgotten population,” said Rollins, who’s studying for a community college degree that she hopes will get her family out of this gloomy neighborhood.

At a time when rival cities are gaining population, Baltimore’s decadeslong disappearing act is only continuing.

According to U.S. Census estimates, Baltimore led all American cities in population loss for the last two years running. Census figures indicate the city saw more people leave its boundaries than Chicago, which also reported significant losses, even though Baltimore is only a quarter of its size.

Even with job gains, stately historic districts and gleaming waterfront areas, Baltimore overall has about the same population today as it did 100 years ago. Only 17 of Baltimore’s 55 communities gained households between 2010 and 2016, according to the Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance. Many are in the city’s prosperous and mostly white areas.

Michael Braverman, director of Baltimore’s Department of Housing and Community Development since 2017, is confident the city is turning a corner. He says city government is focused on stabilizing and revitalizing neighborhoods that can grow.

Seema Iyer, associate director of the University of Baltimore’s Jacob France Institute, believes real momentum is building.

“All the pieces are there. Whether they can connect the dots remains to be seen,” said Iyer.

Patrick Semansky The Associated Press A man walks past vacant rowhomes Oct. 26 in the Harlem Park neighborhood of Baltimore. “There are whole sections of our city that look like 1980s Beirut,” said Carol Ott, an advocate for tenants’ rights in Baltimore who has helped bring the punishing scope of the decadeslong problem to light.