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Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development

New homeownership production program: UPLIFT, open for comment

Community Development Administration Update |

On December 4, Governor Wes Moore announced the UPLIFT (Utilizing Progressive Lending Investments to Finance Transformation) program to increase homeownership opportunities, one of the most powerful drivers of the racial wealth gap, in chronically underinvested communities with a history of redlining. Administered through the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development, the program will address homes impacted by appraisal gaps by accelerating the pace of new construction and rehabilitation of quality affordable housing in strategically identified communities across Maryland.

UPLIFT builds on the department’s past initiatives to create a public-private partnership to invest in disinvested communities. Through the program, selected developers will build, sell, and rehabilitate quality affordable housing in targeted neighborhoods in accordance with design and construction standards that ensure quality, timely production, and accountability.

Homes in these communities appraise for less than the cost to build due to patterns of historic disinvestment depressing the home values. UPLIFT funds the difference between the appraised value and the sales price, and over time the new homes will elevate home values and reduce the gap in UPLIFT neighborhoods. Additionally, 25% of the homes in the program will be reserved for households with incomes below the area median income to become homeowners.

Funded for $10 million through the Fiscal Year 2024 budget, UPLIFT builds on the department’s Homeownership Works (HOW) pilot program, created in 2021. The first phase of the program is investing $10 million into new construction and rehabilitation projects in two Maryland neighborhoods, Johnston Square in Baltimore and Pine Street in Cambridge. UPLIFT projects are required to be located in both a Low-Income Census Tract and in an area designated as a Maryland Sustainable Community. To identify qualifying areas, visit the:

UPLIFT Qualified Areas Mapper. 

To review the UPLIFT draft program guide, visit the: UPLIFT webpage 

Comments will be accepted through December 29, 2023 and can be sent to: [email protected]. The UPLIFT program application will open in early 2024.

If you have any questions, please reach out to [email protected].