Forest Park Senior Center deteriorates as roof leak worsens, city delays repairs

Water has been dripping through the ceiling at the Forest Park Senior Center, and the damage is no longer cosmetic. Floors are buckling, the roof leak is spreading, and the building on the far west side of Baltimore is now in critical condition, threatening a space older adults in Howard Park and nearby neighborhoods depend on for daily connection and support.

The center is one of only 13 senior centers Baltimore says it operates, making the building’s decline especially painful for a city where these sites can provide fitness classes, wellness checks, dining, lifelong-learning programs, health screenings and seasonal vaccines. At Forest Park, the loss would not just mean fewer activities. It would mean fewer places for older residents to gather, fewer services under one roof and more isolation for people who may already have limited options close to home.

Terra Hill-Aston and Joe Aston bought the building about 30 years ago, and they say they can no longer operate normally while the leaks keep getting worse. They have described a long wait for help and say city funds that had been set aside to replace the roof were later moved to another line item, with assurances the money would return later. Instead, years passed while the building kept deteriorating.

Tessa Hill-Aston brought that frustration to City Hall and the Baltimore City Board of Estimates on Wednesday night, pressing city leaders to act before the center loses more of its usefulness or becomes unusable. The Board of Estimates is the city body that opens formal bids for city work, and budget and capital decisions flow through Baltimore’s annual budget process, making it the place where the center’s fate now collides with the city’s priorities.

The question of what it would take to fix the building is not abstract. In January 2022, Maryland announced a $250,000 capital grant for Forest Park Senior Center that included roof repairs. State budget analysis says the senior-center capital grant program helps pay for planning, acquisition, design, construction, renovation and capital equipping, and can cover up to half of a project cost, up to $800,000 in any 15-year period after federal grants are applied. Maryland had 117 senior centers at the time of the 2023 analysis.

Forest Park Senior Center, Inc. describes the site at 4801 Liberty Heights Ave. as a multipurpose nonprofit center for residents 55 and older. Its uses go beyond senior activities. Kim Trueheart also operates children’s programs in part of the building, underscoring how the site serves as a neighborhood anchor across generations.

The center’s repair history stretches back decades. Maryland legislative records show a 2004 bill that proposed up to $1 million for renovation and expansion, a 2005 bill that authorized a $500,000 grant for repair and renovation, and a 2014 bill that proposed another $100,000. Now, after years of deferred attention, the building’s decay has become a test of whether Baltimore will protect the institutions that keep older residents connected, safe and visible.