[6] Charles Village in a strict sense consists of the area immediately to the east and south of the Johns Hopkins University Homewood campus.

However, smaller neighborhoods to the east of this area — including Abell and Harwood, are considered by residents and other Baltimoreans to be part of Greater Charles Village.

[citation needed] The Charles Village Community Benefits District Management Authority (CVCBDMA) is a public entity that provides services within the CVCBD.

Though there are a number of apartment buildings, much of Charles Village's housing stock consists of two- and three-story rowhouses built in the early 20th century.

In 1998, Charles Village residents were challenged to take up a paint brush and choose vividly uncommon colors for the facades and front porches of their Victorian rowhouses.

[citation needed] The contests' lasting result is that the neighborhood is now part of iconic Baltimore, with pictures of the "Painted Ladies," as the homes are known, appearing on travel guides and magazine covers.

On October 21, 2006, the first phase of a new development project was completed: a Barnes & Noble bookstore opened as an anchor to the retail space of a new dorm building, called Charles Commons, for Hopkins students.

The project, completed in 2007, converted a stretch of rowhouses and small apartment buildings to the 600+ capacity dorm as well as multi-story condominiums, all of which contain ground-floor retail.

The Barnes & Noble now serves both as the Johns Hopkins student bookstore and as a standard retail outlet for residents of North Baltimore City.

The CVCBD's geographical boundaries include four neighborhoods in the northern part of the city: Charles Village, Harwood, Abell and Old Goucher.

Property owners within the CVCBDMA pay 12 cents per $100 of assessed value over and above city taxes to support the supplemental sanitation and safety services provided by the District.

CVCA's decision to come on board in 1994 made it possible to pass the enabling legislation in the 1994 Maryland General Assembly, the City Council ordinance later that summer, and then a neighborhood referendum in October of that year.

Other than supplemental safety and sanitation, most services and activities were financed by grants awarded to the CVCBD but passed through an associated 501(c)3 nonprofit, the Charles Village Community Foundation.

Beginning in 2006, the CVCBDMA began to divest its housing and economic revitalization programs, transferring them to the Greater Homewood Community Corporation.

The CVCBDMA now relies primarily on the surcharge tax and a regular grant from the Johns Hopkins University and has focused its mission and financial resources on providing supplemental sanitation and community-based safety services, carried out by its in-house staff.