BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Baltimore is asking voters to authorize up to $22 million in new borrowing for affordable housing, even as its trust fund has had more than $46 million unspent for three straight years.
The Baltimore City Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) has faced criticism in recent months for delays in its annual reporting, in addition to one of its grantees being involved in a federal investigation and extensive legal battles.
The fund’s annual reports for fiscal years 2023, 2024 and 2025 were published this month by the Department of Housing and Community Development following a Spotlight on Maryland report about its three-year delay. The city charter requires an annual report.
The reports show that at the end of fiscal 2023, AHTF reported a restricted balance of about $46.47 million. It reported about $46.62 million at the end of fiscal 2024 and $46.76 million at the end of fiscal 2025.
Meanwhile, the average annual expenditure in those three years was less than $6 million, roughly 12% of the unspent funds.
Still, Baltimore leaders added a ballot question for this week’s election that asks voters to approve up to $22 million for affordable housing projects—a proposal that specifically mentions AHTF.
Sheila Weinberg, CEO of Truth in Accounting, said the city should put money already in the fund to work before taking on more debt.
“The city has already received money for projects, and that money should go out the door as quickly as possible,” Weinberg told Spotlight on Maryland. “That money should be spent before they go to additional borrowing. What the city seems to be doing is a continual borrowing process instead of planning for infrastructure and affordable housing and school repairs.”
A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Scott’s office said the repeated $46 million unspent balance for AHTF means that projects are pending.
“As far as projects under the purview of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, the current fund balance represents already committed and obligated funds for existing projects and programs,” the spokesperson wrote in an email to Spotlight on Maryland. “AHTF funding is generally disbursed as projects meet contractual requirements and eligible development milestones, rather than at the time of award. Disbursement timelines depend on factors such as financing closings, Board of Estimates approvals, construction progress, and satisfaction of funding conditions.”
Scott’s spokesperson added that if voters approve the ballot question, it does not require the city to borrow all $22 million.
“Issuing GO bonds to pay for capital projects is a common practice across cities in the United States,” the spokesperson wrote.
The AHTF reported $1.66 million in grant expenditures and $267,790 in administrative expenses in fiscal 2023. Its fiscal 2024 financial statement lists $8.30 million in total expenditures but does not break that figure out between grants and administrative costs. In fiscal 2025, the fund reported $6.43 million in grant expenditures and $324,121 in administrative expenses.
Weinberg said city leaders need to be more transparent about affordable housing projects.
“[The mayor] didn’t go into great detail on exactly what the money is going to be used for,” Weinberg told Spotlight on Maryland about the statement from Scott’s office.
“It was hard to track who got that money—and it seemed to be that the money was given sometimes to a developer, sometimes to a nonprofit that was related to the developer,” Weinberg said of the AHTF reports. “There was a lack of transparency there.”
One of AHTF’s grantees has faced a series of legal and financial struggles this year. The North East Housing Initiative nonprofit received more than $3 million in city taxpayer dollars through AHTF between 2023 and 2025, before its funding was paused amid a federal investigation into an anonymous donation of more than $ 2 million made to the nonprofit.
Spotlight on Maryland previously reported that the head of the North East Housing Initiative, Garrick Good, filed for bankruptcy three times and pleaded guilty in two criminal cases before taking over the taxpayer-funded nonprofit. Good resigned this month after Spotlight sent him questions for the story about his legal history.
Spotlight on Maryland is a joint venture by The Baltimore Sun, FOX45 News and WJLA in Washington, D.C. Have a news tip? Call 410-467-4670 or email SpotlightOnMaryland@sbgtv.com. Contact Patrick Hauf at pjhauf@sbgtv.com and @PatrickHauf on X.
This post was originally published on Fox 45 by Sinclair Media Group.
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