16,035: the number of vacant properties catalogued on OpenBaltimore

There are 16,035 vacant buildings in Baltimore, according to the city’s open data portal, OpenBaltimore.

This is an update to the 15,928 vacant buildings once listed in the dataset. Last August, a local GIS developer used that number to plot all of Baltimore’s vacant buildings on a map. The data set, provided by the city’s housing authority, has a disclaimer pledging to be updated twice monthly.

Some observers, however, think the the number in the dataset is incorrect. Among them is Carol Ott, otherwise known as Baltimore Slumlord Watch, who has said that the number listed in the OpenBaltimore vacant buildings dataset is too low to be accurate.