ANNAPOLIS, MD – Legal, social justice and community advocates held a press conference this morning to highlight the potential harms of ​HB 243, a bill that would leave thousands of low income families and tenants across the state vulnerable to the loss of their homes due to water bills.

A hearing about the bill was scheduled for Tuesday in the Senate Budget and Taxation Committee, but opponents were not allowed to testify. During the press conference, several speakers shared stories of families who have fallen into foreclosure or faced evictions for tax liens – problems that will only increase if HB243 were to become law. 

“Putting water bills back in tax sale is deciding to once again sacrifice poor, mostly Black people – many of whom are widows – on the altar of municipal revenue collections instead of fixing a very broken tax assessments and collections system in Maryland,” said Nneka N’namdi, Executive Director of The SOS Fund. “It can’t be Maryland’s decade nor Baltimore’s time if these are the types of laws that are being passed in Annapolis.”

HB 243 was intended to extend Baltimore City’s tax sale protections statewide as part of Governor Moore’s housing policy agenda. But it was amended to remove protections for many Baltimore households, including renters, that could lead to mass foreclosures and evictions for unpaid water bills. In 2022,52 percent of Baltimore homes were renter-occupied and Black households are more likely to be renters.

“We are dismayed to see legislation that directly walks back protections we worked for five years ago that we know have helped to keep families in their homes,” said Pro Bono Resource Center of Maryland Director of the Home Preservation Project Allison Harris. “Despite what proponents of the amendment argue, those of us on the ground working every day with clients in Baltimore know that housing instability of vulnerable homeowners and vulnerable families will be the collateral consequence if HB 243 passes as it currently stands.”

“Economic and social justice are a right for all people and communities. HB243 in its current form weakens protections for Baltimore City residents,” saidNeighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore Chief Executive Officer Dan Ellis. “NHS strongly opposes HB243 and will continue to fight to protect the most vulnerable residents of Baltimore.”

In addition to harms linked to water bills, the legislation could also target homes with ‘tangled titles’ that arise when someone inherits their home from relatives. A recent study by Baltimore Neighborhood Indicators Alliance (BNIA) found that there are over 3,000 tangled title properties in Baltimore alone. This is a problem throughout the state as well, particularly on the Eastern Shore. “Those with tangled titles are often very vulnerable. They are excluded from most tax credits, water assistance programs and state repair programs, putting them at high risk of tax sale,” says Margaret Henn, Deputy Director of Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.

HB 243 would gut the protections that were established with the passage of the Water Taxpayer Protection Act in 2019, which ensures that no home or place of worship in the city would be sent to tax sale for water bills.

“The Water Taxpayer Protection Act was a major victory for social and economic justice, and this amended bill aims to undo that progress and leave many city residents at the mercy of the tax sale industry over water bills,” said Food & Water Watch Southern Region Director Jorge Aguilar.  “It is astonishing that we need to state the obvious here, but no one should lose their home or get evicted over a water bill.”

“In addition to the direct harm of a family or neighborhood institution losing their property through tax sale, tax sale also damages the fabric of communities,” said Community Law Center Staff Attorney Shana Roth-Gormley. “What was a thriving church or senior center or community gathering place has now lost the space where it does its work, and where people gather. The neighborhood has lost that institution physically and as a neighbor, lost the services and eyes on the street it provides. And beyond that loss, it has left a hole – the property may now become vacant.”

“HB 243 will have a devastating effect on heirs’ properties and tenants, likely putting thousands more into tax sale for water bills next year. It will have a disproportionate impact on Black families, who more frequently own heirs’ properties,” said Margaret Henn, Deputy Director, Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service.

“Throwing the homes of renters into the byzantine, predatory tax sale process over error-prone water bills is only going to increase the number of families who are evicted and become homeless. Black households, who are twice as likely to be renters in the state of Maryland, deserve the same protections from tax sale foreclosure – which requires only 30-days’ notice of the eviction – as disproportionately white homeowners,” said Matt Hill, attorney at the Public Justice Center.

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