Baltimore’s new mayor has a new plan to deal with vacant housing, but is it bold enough?

Sixteen thousand — year after year, for more than two decades, that’s been the official annual count of vacant houses in Baltimore City, give or take a thousand. The figure has held strong through multiple mayoral administrations and tens of millions of dollars spent razing, rehabbing and reselling the unoccupied properties, which lower surrounding property values, attract crime and put lives in danger: Earlier this year, three firefighters were killed, and another seriously injured, when an empty house on South Stricker street caught fire, then collapsed while they were inside.