Surrounded by legal problems, Baltimore housing nonprofit director resigns

A Baltimore nonprofit leader whose affordable housing organization has faced financial and legal turmoil and questions from federal investigators has resigned.

Garrick Good, CEO and president of the North East Housing Initiative, told The Banner this week that though he could not elaborate on the circumstances, he has parted ways with the initiative, which he’d led since 2018.

Good said in a written statement that he had become “a distraction” from the North East Housing Initiative’s mission and did not want to detract from the organization’s ability to serve homeowners.

The nonprofit buys properties, sells them to low-income owners and then keeps the homes affordable by restricting future sale prices. Its portfolio includes about 40 homes in East Baltimore, according to the organization.

Court records show the nonprofit has racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt and has been hit with at least three federal tax liens since 2025, including one for $66,000 last month, as well as a foreclosure filing.

Last week, the Howard County state’s attorney charged Good with one count of writing a bad check and one count of theft, both felonies, court documents show.

According to charging documents, Good opened a North East Housing Initiative bank account at the Pinnacle Financial Partners branch in Columbia in November 2025. He deposited a $92,000 check there the following month from his personal Charles Schwab account and proceeded to transfer and withdraw funds.

Pinnacle then received notification that the Schwab account from which the $92,000 came had been “Frozen/Blocked,” and that its highest recorded balance that month was a little more than $87,000.

A trial in that case has been set for December.

Good has not submitted a court response. The North East Housing Initiative’s board chair, Danise Jones-Dorsey, was not available to comment.

“My decision to resign should not be interpreted as an admission of wrongdoing,” he said in the statement two days after the charges were filed. “I remain confident in my ability to address matters concerning me through the appropriate processes and with the assistance of counsel.”

Known in the housing world as a community land trust, the North East Housing Initiative has worked to stabilize East Baltimore, preserve affordable housing and protect residents from being displaced, winning millions of dollars in government grants and securing private donations.

In his statement, Good said he helped grow the organization from an idea into a reality. He asked donors and government partners to continue to fund the nonprofit’s work and support the homeowners already in place.

Of Baltimore’s few land trusts, the North East Housing Initiative stood apart as the city’s most prolific and successful. It has received at least $3.2 million in city funds since 2023 and at least $863,000 from the state housing department.

But the city and the state both paused payments starting last year.

State housing spokesperson Allison Foster said the department has not approved any additional funding applications from the nonprofit since mid-2024 and suspended all active grant payments last September.

Good blamed the funding lapse on an FBI investigation into about $2 million in anonymous cryptocurrency donations that the organization received starting in mid-2025.

Good said that neither the nonprofit nor its staff is the subject of the investigation. The FBI declined to comment.

The blocked funds caused the organization further financial distress, he said, and led to other bank account closures, including his own. In May, Good said he laid off seven staff members.

Federal prosecutors for the Northern District of Ohio subpoenaed the nonprofit in February, according to documents The Banner reviewed, and asked Good to testify before a grand jury in March.

They also asked him to provide information related to digital currency owned and controlled by the organization and information about the individuals who transferred the currency.

Court filings show that the North East Housing Initiative’s financial problems predate the arrival of the cryptocurrency. Its creditors include JPMorgan Chase, Baltimore Community Lending, PNC Bank and the Washington, D.C.-based National Housing Trust Community Development Fund, which sued the nonprofit in federal court.