ANNAPOLIS, MD — Governor Wes Moore today announced the Orchard Ridge community in Baltimore City as the State of Maryland’s first UPLIFT community.
UPLIFT—which stands for Utilizing Progressive Lending Investments to Finance Transformation—is a program that will help increase property values and homeownership in disinvested neighborhoods by accelerating the pace of development, construction, and sale of quality affordable housing through partnership with qualified development teams.
“One of the major contributors to the racial wealth gap is inequitable appraisal values in communities that have been affected by redlining. That's why, in this Season of Action, we are taking concrete steps to boost property values and build pathways to greater wealth creation for homeowners,”
said Gov. Moore. “UPLIFT will help us take real estate that isn’t currently in use and transform it into vibrant places to live, grow, and thrive. And the entire community of Orchard Ridge is going to benefit as a direct result.”
UPLIFT’s core focus is to transform vacant lots and structures into quality affordable housing. In program-eligible communities, homes appraise for less than the cost to build due to patterns of disinvestment. Through public-private partnership, UPLIFT will help produce new and upgraded infrastructure, including public amenities like parks and recreational facilities.
Funded for $10 million through the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, UPLIFT provides critical gap financing to mission-aligned, not-for-profit, and for-profit developers to build quality, affordable housing. Nonprofit homebuilder Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake will receive $1.25 million to promote development in the community, which will help create 27 new 3 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom homes.
“Orchard Ridge represents exactly what UPLIFT was designed to do—transform historically disinvested areas of our state into thriving, opportunity-rich communities through strategic public investment and partnership,”
said Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Secretary Jake Day. “By increasing access to affordable homeownership, we’re not just building houses—we’re building generational wealth and restoring dignity to places that have been overlooked for far too long.”
“At Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake, we bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. Our work and the blessing of homeownership are only possible by building community,”
said Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake Chief Executive Officer Mike Posko. “Orchard Ridge is a testament to the strength of community when elected officials, agencies, community organizations, neighbors, volunteers, and funders come together to make the dream of homeownership possible. We are honored that the State of Maryland, through the UPLIFT Program, is such a supportive and committed partner.”
For more information on the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development’s UPLIFT program, visit
dhcd.maryland.gov.
For more information on Habitat for Humanity of the Chesapeake, visit
habitatchesapeake.org.