Is it wrong for a city to tear down someone's house?

Question

I am not sure if anyone outside of the Baltimore area is following the story of the city of Baltimore condemning and knocking down a citizen's home. The story is that they condemned the property 6 days after they put the notice up and there was also an alleged lack of communication on the part of the city with the owner about how the actual demolition would take place. You can read about the story here

I would be interested to hear folks thoughts on the story. My understanding is that they offered this person a mortgage free home in exchange for a home that was structurally about to collapse. It is hard to see how that is a bad deal for the owner. Sounds like the city completely bailed them out of the fact their house had fallen into disrepair causing harm and danger to anyone who was in and around that property.

I would be interested to hear how folks from Baltimore think the issue of crumbling vacant properties should be handled. Has anyone heard any innovative, market driven way to solve the issue? @Ned Carey @Account Closed and any others.

Solomon Morris · Answer

Spend 10k to fix a roof then knock the whole house down later.. Government spending ladies and gentlemen

Ned Carey · Answer

It wouldn't surprise me if the woman knew this was in process and failed to take appropriate action.  But if that is the case it doesn't fit the narrative of victim hood in the city.

I see this so many times in my business, people wait until it is too late - then they start to whine about their problems.

Of course it also wouldn't surprise me if the city just made a mistake and owe this woman big time.

Joe Norman · Answer

I don't believe there is a Market Driven way to solve the vacant housing problem in Baltimore.  At least not in the context of neighborhoods where an entire block, or 90% +/- of the block, is vacant.  Moving this lady and demolishing the block seems like it was the right move, but it certainly should have been done in a more collaborative and responsible way.

Is it wrong for a city to tear down someone's house?

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