DETROIT – Years ago, cleaning up blight in Detroit seemed like an impossible task.
Abandoned homes dotted neighborhoods, creating eyesores and challenges for residents.
On Friday (July 18), the city is marking a major milestone: it has demolished 8,000 blighted houses as part of a plan approved in 2020.
Kim Marble, a Detroit resident, recalled the struggle.
“There was houses there that they could not fix. I cut the grass, I shoveled the snow to make it look like someone cared because I did,” said Marble.
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said the city’s land bank, which once owned 47,000 abandoned houses, will own no houses needing demolition by the end of this year.
“By the end of this year, it’s going to be about 1,000, and none of them are going to need to be demolished. Those are all going to be houses for sale,” Duggan said.
With most land bank houses now bought by renters, the city is working to push out speculators.
Duggan said, “We go to the tenants when the landlord is being foreclosed on, and Dan Gilbert and his foundation front the money to pay off the taxes, and the tenant becomes the homeowner. We’re trying to put the unethical landlords out of this city.”
Residents like Cliff Johnson are optimistic about the future.
Johnson bought his house for $700 about 11 to 12 years ago.
“I took my time, about four years, and I put it back together,” said Johnson.
The work is far from over, but Detroit’s progress offers hope for revitalizing neighborhoods and creating more homes for residents.
