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Abandoned property ranks among Detroit's most stubborn problems, threatening public safety and revitalization efforts alike. In continuing reports, The Detroit News will examine the city's attempts to cope with its abundance of empty buildings and lots.
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Monday, June 17, 2002
 David Coates / The Detroit News Marsha and Paul Little bought their five-bedroom house in Highland Park from the Housing and Community Development Corp. Their purchase is one of the few success stories among the 2,000 homes purchased by the Detroit and Wayne County after the RIMCO/MCA real-estate failure. |
Problems plague residents of dilapidated homes owned by Detroit and Wayne County 06/17/02
Cash crunch doomed plan
City, county failed to provide funding, program manager says 06/17/02
Sunday, June 16, 2002
 David Coates / The Detroit News;Steve Perez / The Detroit News Johnnell Banks says the boarded-up city-owned house with its overgrown yard hurts the appearance of his home, at right, next door on Abington in Detroit. |
A joint Wayne County-Detroit effort to restore about 2,000 homes has failed because of poor management, resulting in the questionable spending of more than $17.3 million in public money and the rehabilitation of only 32 houses. 06/16/02
Map of properties taken over
06/16/02
Agency housed in pricey suite
DETROIT -- The Detroit Neighborhood Development Corp. (DNDC) suite in the marble-walled Fisher Building is in sharp contrast to the city properties the agency neglects and the squalor in which its tenants live. 06/16/02
Housing blight tied to white-collar crime
White-collar crime contributed to the housing blight in Detroit and Highland Park. 06/16/02
Sunday, November 25, 2001
Photo by David Coates / The Detroit NewsMurphy Middle School student Derell Young, 13, walks past the long-condemned building at 15756 Riverdale, one of 222 that concerns the neighborhood. |
DETROIT -- The homes are deserted, and their smashed doors, porch steps and window glass are scattered atop overgrown lawns. These are the homes in the Wilkins Elementary School neighborhood that students pass on their way to class. 10/08/00
House slated for razing escapes wrecking ball
DETROIT -- At 15756 Riverdale, there's a yellow "D" painted on the home's white shingles. Shawntraze Haliburton, a sixth-grader who walks past the home on her way to school, is skeptical about whether the "D" really means it will soon be demolished.
Friday, March 23, 2001
Detroit land holdings still cloudy issueDETROIT -- The City of Detroit turned over a revised computer database Thursday to The Detroit News that officials asserted was a more accurate accounting of the city's current land inventory, though acknowledging it is still incomplete.
Thursday, March 22, 2001
Faulty land records slow Detroit rebirthDETROIT -- As Mayor Dennis Archer launches a lobbying effort in Lansing to change property laws to deal with Detroit's bloated inventory of vacant property, the city has no idea how much land it owns, where it is or how much it is worth.
Sunday, October 8, 2000
Emergency demolition pursuedDETROIT -- City council could approve by Monday a resolution calling on the Michigan Legislature to create emergency demolition zones within 750 feet of all Detroit public schools. 10/08/00
List of abandoned buildings near Detroit Public Schools: A-C
10/08/00
List of abandoned buildings near Detroit Public Schools: D-G
10/08/00
List of abandoned buildings near Detroit Public Schools: H-M
10/08/00
List of abandoned buildings near Detroit Public Schools: N-Z
10/08/00
Sunday, September 24, 2000
Photo by David Coates / The Detroit NewsThe abandoned building next to Jamieson Elementary is the kind of place children are taught to avoid. It is just one of 1,181 vacant structures within a block of a Detroit school. |
Derelict buildings haunt school kids
DETROIT -- The house at 2900 Pingree could pass for the Hollywood set of a horror movie.
09/24/00
How The News charted empty buildings
The Detroit News counted vacant buildings within one-block of 266 public schools in Detroit, using the same method employed by Detroit Buildings & Safety Engineering inspectors on their citywide surveys. 09/24/00
Worst neighborhood
On the way to school: Dead dogs, drug deals
DETROIT -- The pit bull, an electric cord twisted around its throat, lies decomposing in what was once the family room of 13958 Hazelridge.
09/24/00
Tearing down homes
Legal hurdles slow demolition efforts
DETROIT -- In response to last fall's school girl rapes, Wayne County Deputy Executive Mike Duggan launched a county program he said would go a long way toward removing abandoned buildings near schools.
09/24/00
Thursday, August 24, 2000
Photo by James W. Pritchard / The Detroit NewsDerrick Clayton, 31, on the porch of his mother's home on Hazelwood in Detroit, lives across the street and next to a vacant red brick house. He has had to chase kids out of the empty dwelling. |
DETROIT -- The city's longstanding problem with abandoned buildings, houses and land began three decades ago, shortly after the 1967 riot. Homeowners moved to the suburbs by the hundreds of thousands, and businesses followed. 08/24/00
Misidentified properties
Errors, miscommunication sweep homes from tax rolls
DETROIT -- Seven homes sold at the city's 1996 auction of forfeited houses still go untaxed because assessors never changed their status on Detroit's tax rolls, a Detroit News investigation found. 08/24/00
Ownership
Squatters complicate home sales
DETROIT -- In a block of well-maintained homes in the Boston-Edison Historic District, 2295 W. Chicago stands out. 08/24/00
Approaches
Detroit looks to whittle surplus
DETROIT -- Solving Detroit's housing and land problems will require innovative solutions and a persistent commitment from city government -- two ingredients now lacking, housing experts say. 08/24/00
Successes
Auctioned property is a deal for some
DETROIT -- The city's surplus property auction in 1996 yielded some success stories. 08/24/00
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