Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore is one of the high-performing nonprofit housing developers that Smith NMTC Associates has worked with to utilize New Markets Tax Credits (NMTCs) for affordable homeownership development, and we’re thrilled to share the nomination of their Mondawmin Rowhome Project for the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits’ 2025 Community Development QLICIs of the Year Award in the Real Estate category.

As a nonprofit 501(c)(3), the mission of NHS Baltimore is to stimulate, protect, and preserve homeownership and financial well-being to strengthen communities. It delivers on its mission by promoting homeownership, improving the physical appearance of neighborhoods, developing community leadership, and stabilizing the local real estate market. NMTCs have expanded the impact of NHS Baltimore’s work by increasing its capacity to provide high-quality, affordable homeownership options in disadvantaged communities while preserving existing housing stock and addressing vacancy issues.

Community Housing Capital’s March 14, 2024 closing of its 2023 $25 million New Markets Tax Credit allocation funded four affordable homeownership projects across four states, including NHS Baltimore. American Express NMTC Homeownership Fund, LLC served as the investor and Smith NMTC Associates, LLC facilitated the closing with multiple QALICBs to maximize the net benefit for participating nonprofit housing developer QALICBs.

NHS Baltimore received a $5.85M QLICI loan to acquire and rehab 22 historic single-family rowhomes scattered throughout a 5×7 block area of West Baltimore in response to the Neighborhood Revitalization Plan for Greater Rosemont and Mondawmin to reduce blight from vacant properties and revitalize the neighborhood by increasing quality, accessible homeownership opportunities.

This for-sale housing project is a continuation of prior NMTC-supported work to stabilize and revitalize this historically disinvested area of Baltimore that continues to attract new residents due to its desirable location near Coppin State University and Baltimore City Community College, proximity to parks and green space, and public transportation access. With a total of $11.7 million in QLICIs across two closings (03/14/24 and 02/17/22), NHS Baltimore will have developed 47 homes with more than 40% being sold to homebuyers earning 80% AMI or below.

In addition to responding to the Neighborhood Revitalization Plan, NHS Baltimore’s Mondawmin Rowhome Project is addressing the issue of vacant, abandoned properties in disrepair throughout its target neighborhoods, and the extreme shortage of quality affordable housing stock for the low- to moderate-income residents in those communities. The cost to rehabilitate these connected rowhouses is high. Even NHS Baltimore’s homebuyers in the 80%-120% AMI range need some subsidy to affordably purchase a rehabilitated home in the area. The NMTC funding has enabled NHS Baltimore to provide subsidies ranging from under $10,000 to over $150,000 to buyers, depending on need. This represents the gap between the cost-to-construct and an affordable price for their homebuyers.

NHS Baltimore is deeply embedded in the neighborhoods it serves. Before beginning work in a neighborhood, NHS Baltimore engages the residents in meetings and other forms of outreach to ensure that it is providing what the community wants. NHS Baltimore not only serves as developer, but also provides mortgage products, downpayment assistance, financial counseling, and homeowner education courses and support. In 2023, NHS Baltimore assisted 300 families in buying a home and is working to invest and leverage at least $100 million in West Baltimore over the next five years.

Without NMTC-supported loans, NHS Baltimore would not have been able to acquire and rehabilitate all of the project’s homes. This would have impacted the organization’s ability to follow its extremely successful community development method of working in a 5×7 radius of blocks to target specific areas/markets to maximize overall, long-term neighborhood impact.
According to NHS Baltimore staff, since the NMTC investments have been made in the community, home prices have increased by over 50%, equity for legacy homeowners in the neighborhood has increased by over $30 million, vacant homes in the community have decreased by 17%, and 110 construction jobs have been created. More importantly, investment has come to a community that has been excluded from opportunities in the past.