by Luke Broadwater, Contact Reporter, The Baltimore Sun

Baltimore housing officials plan to ask the city to provide a subsidy of $50 million to $100 million for a developer that plans to rebuild a wide swath of East Baltimore, including an overhaul of the public housing complex just north of glitzy Harbor East.

It is the first time such a tax incentive has been considered for an affordable-housing project, housing officials said.

Proponents say the plan will improve housing conditions for tenants of the Perkins Homes, who are mostly poor and black, and help to desegregate the neighborhood. But opponents see it as a way to further gentrify the area that could force longtime residents into other parts of the city.

Peggy Margaret Webster, director of planning and development for the Housing Authority of Baltimore City, said city officials are still analyzing how much in tax-increment-financing is needed for the project. She said the subsidy, known as a TIF, will finance the building of public infrastructure to support the public housing complex, including a new school. The request is expected to go before the city’s Board of Finance in April.

Click here to read the full article and Mission First’s role in the project.