VBNs, Tax Sale, and Homicides

In 2023 Fight Blight Bmore conducted a manual accounting of locations where homicide occurred in Baltimore, it found that in 2022 more than 50% of Baltimore’s 335 murders took place near a property that had a Vacant Building Notice (VBN), Tax Lien Certificate or it was a vacant lot.

With the goal of exploring the relationship in Baltimore between the presence of properties with vacant building notices, properties whose liens were auctioned as part of the tax sale, and the number of homicides in the vicinity —Fight Blight Bmore conducted a more in depth analysis. This analysis found that, “there is a strong correlation between the presence of vacant building notices and tax sale properties with homicides committed on that Block. This impact is especially clear with higher numbers of VBNs and tax sale properties.” The full analysis can be viewed here.