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The Detroit area remains one of the top 10 metros for foreclosed and vacated homes. Its abandoned residences often become hideouts for drug users and prostitutes, and occasionally scenes of murder. So it's no wonder that government officials want to simply tear down many of these homes. But in the community of Highland Park, Mich., several of the homes recently demolished were nearly new and never owned after a neighborhood revitalization project turned disastrous. And even the wreckers hired to do the job expressed shock at the waste.
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But Koresky says the inspector confirmed that the homes had to come down by order of the state. Not because of mold. Not because of bad soil. Not because of chemical contamination. But, according to news reports, because of alleged mismanagement of funds and poor planning. It turned out that not many people wanted to spend $150,000 on a 1,100-square-foot home in a distressed community.
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The demolition of 24 homes in Highland Park was being paid for by a $13.8-million grant through the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program. Despite the massive amount of resources wasted on aimlessly building and destroying new houses, 34,643 homeless people live in the Detroit Metro area and 36.2% of families in Detroit are living in poverty.
What? The state has no money to do this?
I think some people have big plans for the Detroit area in 5-10 years.
And from the linked article, these new homes were also crappy homes:
"WXYZ reported that the properties in the project that were bought and occupied were found by owners to be poorly constructed and subject to flooding. And the recent recession probably didn't help either."
But yes, burned out, looted and unusable housing is being demolished on the government dime. That's what happens when owners walk away from their disasters - they shift the expense of their failures to society in general.
Definitely agree with your last sentence - even though I think the state should pay instead of me.
Either way it will have to come from taxes. To me, this is money well spent. You can never draw people into a neighborhood with burned out buildings all around it. They also become meeting and operational spots for gang activities. The sooner you get rid of that garbage, the sooner you can try to start working on bringing people back in. That isn't to say they don't have a very long way to go. I'm rooting for them though.
Why not simply require every able bodied welfare recipient in the area report for work, issue them a sledge hammer, safety wear and a wheelbarrow then tell them "you're already on the public payroll now get to work".
Here's your reporting center; you must sign in and be under qualified supervision for a prescribed time or until we no longer require you. Those are the conditions upon which you continue getting your welfare payments.
Wait it cost $13 million to tear down 24 homes. I must be missing something.
One Hi-Hoe operator and a couple of dump trucks? 13 million? We're missing something alrighty!
Holy crap; a weeks work for a good operator and a landfill site within a reasonable distance with enough dump trucks so the Hi-Hoe operator isn't held up waiting.
Done right, you'd see those things disappear faster than time-lapse photography for a quarter of that 13 million cost.
Why can't we do controlled fires? It seems that's the only cost effective way
Their actually knocking down an apartment building here by a controlled fire that way its not at taxpayers expense and the firefighters get practice.
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I would have done the job with a pick up truck and a few tools..
