Some $1.9 billion is to be spent on clearing abandoned or unusable properties in Detroit. Around 70,000 unusable properties across the city will need to be cleared in the next five years – at a cost of $1.9 billion to the taxpayer.
Uninhabited or unusable properties make up one in five of all the city’s properties.
“Detroit will need as much as $850 million just to address
neighborhood blight in the next few years. Addressing the
larger-scale commercial sites across the city could add an
additional $500 million to $1 billion because of their much
larger size and their potential for greater environmental
issues,” stated a new report from the city's Blight Removal
Task Force.
“Altogether, 1,200 properties will need to be demolished per
month over a five-year period,” the report noted. The
expense would cost some $2,600 per resident, given the extent of
the existing damage.
Towards the end of 2013, the White House promised some $320
million’s worth of aid to Detroit. In July last year the city
filed for bankruptcy. It is currently swamped with approximately
$18 billion worth of debt.
“Even with every available source of funding, Detroit faces a
shortfall of $400 million,” the report adds.
“Adding in the large-scale commercial and industrial projects
increases the gap to as much as $1 billion.”
The city itself has a population of some 700,000 residents – a
reduction from 1.8 million people in the 1950s. Its abandonment
means that around 1,200 buildings will have to be bulldozed on a
monthly basis over a five-year period.
The city is in danger of becoming a ghost town. However, blight
isn’t the only problem, and re-engaging people with the city
could be problematic. The report aims to provide some suggestions
and answers to its abandonment – as well as the demolition of the
uninhabited houses creating jobs, it recommends building up
systems of digital communication and public training sessions to
implement them.
Neighborhoods make up 99.3 percent of the total blighted
structures, according to the report. It recommends implementing
plans to grade and seed sites as soon as possible.