Shuttered
homes
and
businesses
lined a
street
in
downtown
Detroit
in 2008.
(Photo
by
Spencer
Platt/Getty
Images)
From
redlining
to
subprime
lending:
New
report
examines
history
of
Detroit’s
housing
crisis,
racial
barriers
City’s
residents
face
high
housing-cost
burden,
modern
policies
continue
legacy
of
racism
and
exclusion
in
African
American
homeownership
LANSING—As
Detroit
continues
to
experience
an
economic
comeback
and a
new
development
boom,
the
benefits
have not
reached
all
residents,
with
dramatically
high
housing
costs as
a share
of
income
and the
continued
disenfranchisement
of the
city’s
African
American
residents.
A new
report
released
by the
Michigan
League
for
Public
Policy,
Detroit:
The
evolution
of a
housing
crisis,
combines
data and
historical
context
to
illustrate
the past
and
ongoing
hurdles
to
owning a
home—and
subsequently
building
wealth—that
African
Americans
have
faced.
An
executive
summary
of the
report
is also
available.
“Detroit’s
history
and
identity
is so
entwined
with
African
American
people
and
culture,
but
amidst
the many
points
of
pride,
there is
a
history
of
harmful
policies
that
have
held
residents
of color
back,”
said
Karen
Holcomb-Merrill,
Chief
Operating
Officer
for the
Michigan
League
for
Public
Policy.
“This is
especially
true
when it
comes to
housing,
as
Detroit
has
unfortunately
become a
stark
example
of how
past
racist
housing
policies
are
driving
residential
segregation,
poor
health
and
poverty
today.”
The
report
examines
the
constant
barriers
to
homeownership
African
Americans
in
Detroit
have
faced,
from
discriminatory
deed
restrictions
and
redlining
to the
subprime
mortgage
industry
and
illegal
tax
foreclosures.
White
migration
to the
suburbs
sparked
decades
of
disinvestment
in the
city,
and now
a
resurgence
of White
residents
are
fueling
big-ticket
investments
and
inflated
housing
costs.
As a
result,
African
Americans
have
been
relegated
to
substandard
rental
housing
and
neighborhoods
that
offer
little
in the
way of
health,
education
and
employment.
Median
income
in the
city of
Detroit
is
$27,838
per
year—roughly
half of
the
state
median
income—and
the
poverty
rate in
the city
is twice
the
state
rate.
Paired
with
rising
housing
costs,
Detroiters
are
spending
a larger
share of
their
income
on
housing
than
people
living
in many
other
Michigan
communities.
This
means
they
have
less
money in
their
budgets
for
other
necessities
like
food,
healthcare
and
transportation.
Renters—now
the
majority
of the
city’s
households—are
particularly
burdened,
having
to spend
nearly
half of
their
income
on
housing.
In the
larger
metro
area,
affordable
units
are
available
for
fewer
than 1
in 3
renter
families
with
extremely
low
incomes.
Unaffordable
housing
costs,
dangerous
building
conditions
and
evictions
lead to
frequent
moves
and
homelessness,
with
serious
consequences
for
health
and
economic
security.
Low-income
housing
or
rentals
are less
likely
to be
inspected
or up to
code,
and poor
housing
conditions
can
contribute
to
Detroit’s
exceptionally
high
rates of
childhood
lead
poisoning,
asthma,
and
infant
and
maternal
mortality.
The
city’s
water
shutoffs
are also
part of
the
housing
crisis,
as
outstanding
water
bill
debts
are
rolled
into
unpaid
property
taxes
and
increase
the risk
of tax
foreclosure.
Detroit
kids are
also
adversely
affected
by
unstable
housing
situations.
In the
2015-16
school
year, 58
percent
of all
Detroit
students
were
enrolled
in more
than one
school,
compared
to only
26
percent
of their
suburban
peers.
One in 3
of the
city’s
elementary
students
change
schools
every
single
year,
constantly
leaving
friends,
trusted
teachers
and
other
school
staff
and
having
to
establish
new
relationships
and
routines
in an
unfamiliar
environment.
When
children
change
schools,
academic
achievement
suffers
at both
the
individual
and
classroom
levels,
and the
negative
impact
grows
with
each
subsequent
move,
including
a
diminished
likelihood
of
graduating
high
school
on time
and
lifetime
earnings
as
adults.
Children
experiencing
multiple
moves,
homelessness
and
other
forms of
housing
instability
experience
worse
health,
more
hospitalizations
and
greater
developmental
risks
than
their
counterparts
with
stable
housing.
“The
impact
of
low-quality
housing
options
is
pervasive
and
profound,”
said
Holcomb-Merrill.
“Housing
struggles
affect
economic
standing,
public
health,
education
and
more.
Just as
we have
been
saying
about
Michigan
as a
whole,
economic
recovery
is only
beneficial
if it
reaches
all
people,
and
there
are many
state
and
local
policies
that can
help
alleviate
Detroit’s
housing
crisis
and
improve
living
options
for
African
Americans.”
The
League’s
report
hinges
on two
big, key
ideas:
Explicit
and
ongoing
discussion
of past
racism
is key
to
addressing
it, and
Detroit’s
economic
turnaround
is the
ideal
time to
make
changes
that
distribute
its
benefits
to all
of the
city’s
residents.
The
report
offers
up
several
specific
policy
recommendations
regarding
improved
housing
affordability
and
reduced
racial
disparities:
• Focus
more
affordable
housing
efforts
on the
households
with the
very
lowest
incomes.
•
Strengthen
the
community
benefits
ordinance
to
ensure
that the
Detroit
residents
subsidizing
developers
benefit
from the
ensuing
economic
development.
•
Establish
water
shutoff
protections
and
income-based
bills
for
households
with low
incomes
to
protect
their
health
and help
stabilize
their
housing
situation.
•
Provide
for
eviction
expungement
so
struggling
families
or those
wronged
by
unethical
landlords
aren’t
indefinitely
blacklisted
from
rental
housing.
•
Strengthen
consumer
protections
in land
contracts
to
ensure
that
unscrupulous
sellers
can’t
cheat
buyers
out of
the
return
on their
investment.