Abandonment, Baltimore, 1980.Depopulation and housing abandonment have been major issues in some of
Abandonment, Baltimore, 1980.Depopulation and housing abandonment have been major issues in some of the cities of the Northeast since about 1970, and Baltimore has been one of the cities hardest hit. Its peak population was 906,000 in 1970, and by 1990 that had fallen to 736,00. It has fallen further still with a 2020 estimate of about 594,000. The neighborhood pictured (sorry I did not record precisely where) was in the throes of abandonment when the photo was taken. Several of the units appear to have been in reasonably good condition in 1980, but I suspect they were abandoned by 1990. In a few neighborhoods, the abandoned housing units were purchased and refurbished, but most abandoned housing was allowed to decay. I do not know the longer term fate of this block, but I suspect all units were abandoned and allowed to decay, not refurbished. They may still remain as shells, or the city may have ordered them bulldozed. Blocks of vacant land and blocks of shells of abandoned housing are both common in parts of Baltimore. -- source link
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