18. March 2026
Baltimore City Council Housing Rights Hearing: Tenant Protections Under the Microscope
A packed council chamber heard hours of testimony last month as Baltimore City Council’s Housing and Urban Affairs Committee convened a hearing on the state of tenant protections across the city. Landlords, advocates, social workers, and residents themselves lined up to speak — painting a fractured picture of a city where the right to stable housing remains deeply unequal.
What Was on the Table
The hearing centered on three proposed ordinances: a strengthened Just Cause Eviction law, a Tenant Bill of Rights expansion, and a pilot Rent Stabilization program modeled partly on policies enacted in other mid-Atlantic cities. Council President Zeke Cohen opened the session by acknowledging that Baltimore’s eviction rate — among the highest of any major U.S. city — is both a moral failure and an economic drag.
“When a family loses their home, the costs don’t disappear. They shift — to shelters, to hospitals, to schools, to jails. We pay for displacement one way or another.” — Council President Zeke Cohen
Key Testimony Highlights
From Legal Aid advocates: Attorneys from the Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service described a “justice gap” in housing court, where the vast majority of tenants appear without counsel while landlords almost always have legal representation. They urged the council to fully fund the city’s right-to-counsel pilot that launched in 2022 but has never been adequately resourced.
From tenant organizers: Members of the United Workers and Baltimore Renters United described patterns of what they called “renoviction” — landlords pushing out long-term tenants through cosmetic upgrades to reset rents at market rate. Several East Baltimore residents shared firsthand accounts of receiving 60-day notices after living in the same apartment for over a decade.
From landlord associations: Representatives from the Rental Housing Association of Maryland argued that rent stabilization would deter investment and worsen the housing shortage. They advocated instead for streamlined permitting and tax incentives for landlords who voluntarily keep rents below market rate.
From city housing officials: Department of Housing and Community Development Deputy Commissioner Marcus Webb said the department had issued over 4,200 violation notices in the prior fiscal year but lacked staff to follow up on remediation. He asked for additional funding before any new enforcement mandates.
Background: Baltimore’s Eviction Crisis
Baltimore processes tens of thousands of eviction filings annually. Research by the Eviction Lab at Princeton University has consistently ranked Baltimore among the top ten large U.S. cities for eviction rates, with predominantly Black neighborhoods experiencing rates five to seven times higher than predominantly white neighborhoods.
The city’s 2025 Comprehensive Housing Strategy identified affordability and displacement as top priorities, but community groups say implementation has been slow and underfunded.
What Comes Next
The committee is expected to vote on amendments to the Just Cause Eviction ordinance at its next session. The rent stabilization pilot, which faces stronger opposition, may be tabled for further study. Advocates have pledged to mobilize tenants ahead of the vote.
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