Baltimore City is spending more than $1 million to hire a consultant to help determine whether to combine its housing and planning departments.
The Board of Estimates on Wednesday approved a request from the Department of Housing and Community Development to hire Urban Policy Development LLC, doing business as UPD Consulting, to help city leaders decide whether to merge the two agencies.
The contract with UPD will cost the city $1,067,600. It was approved without discussion as part of the spending panel’s routine agenda.
Mayor Brandon Scott disclosed last February that he wanted to study whether to merge the Department of Planning and the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). He brought up the subject when he appointed Tim Keane to serve as the city’s housing commissioner and Renata “Ren” Southard to serve as its Planning Director.
Keane had been the Planning Director and Southard has held key positions in both the housing and planning departments. Their appointments became effective March 2.
Scott said when he announced the appointments that one area he wanted the two agency heads to explore is whether to combine the two departments, which both have offices in the Charles L Benton Jr. Building at 417 E. Fayette St.
As part of the transition, he directed Keane and Southard to conduct an extensive examination of the structure of the housing and planning departments and to make recommendations about possible “strategic changes” that could maximize their resources and make them more effective, up to and including a potential merger of the agencies.
The professional services agreement with UPD Consulting is a sign that the two department leaders are moving ahead with that assignment.
According to a briefing document on the Board of Estimates agenda, the city is hiring the consultant “to conduct a structured assessment of the Department of Housing and Community Development and the Department of Planning. This work will help determine and advise as to a potential merger between the two agencies as well as opportunities to improve overall organizational effectiveness in the immediate term.”
The first phase of the contract will focus on “internal and external stakeholder engagement and identifying immediate operational challenges and opportunities.” The second phase includes “a comprehensive organizational and operational assessment that will produce a Preliminary Findings Memo with priority recommendations, validating and refining the case for potential restructuring.”
According to the briefing statement, the housing department needs specialized consultants “to provide independent analysis, facilitate stakeholder engagement, and develop evidence-based recommendations that will guide future organizational design and implementation decisions.”
The contract was described as starting on May 1, 2026, and ending on March 31, 2027. The briefing statement noted that work has begun and the contract is being submitted to the Board of Estimates to “memorialize the relationship between the Parties and to enter into a written agreement governing the services provided…and the payment for such services by the City.”
