Low COL/ High diversity: suburb search (Detroit, Warren: apartments, renting, condos)

[mitre10]

I'm doing some research for a friend who has been renting in Farmington Hills but wants to buy--and is priced out of FH. She's looking for a suburb with a lower cost of living than Farmington Hills, and with true cultural and ethnic diversity for her biracial, school aged kids. Any suggestions?

[Geo-Aggie]

Oak Park. In my opinion, you won't beat Oak Park when it comes to safe, near cool stuff, low cost of living, and racial diversity. Lathrup Village and Eastpointe are also nice communities your friend could consider.

[mitre10]

Looks great, thanks! I'll point her towards Oak Park.

[DTWflyer]

Good options mentioned.
Madison Heights could be an option too.
Parts of Southfield too.

[usroute10]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

Oak Park. In my opinion, you won't beat Oak Park when it comes to safe, near cool stuff, low cost of living, and racial diversity. Lathrup Village and Eastpointe are also nice communities your friend could consider.

Mr. Aggie, You are really on Oak Park's bandwagon. Let me tell you the perception of Oak Park is a poor man's Southfield, with one of the worst public school districts in Oakland County. Oak Park High School in the late 1990's was all-black. It is still the same way - how is that diverse??

There might be some white people that live on the northern edge of Oak Park because it is within the Berkley School district boundaries, and there is the Jewish community at 10 Mile and Greenfield, but Oak Park is very segregated and 60% black.

To the OP, maybe your friend can find housing in the southeastern corner of Farmington Hills, which is more of a working class neighborhood with smaller, older houses, but still within the school district. Or maybe look into northern Warren or Harper Woods.

[Geo-Aggie]

Most of Metro Detroit is segregated. And yes, Oak Park District has bad schools. There's no way around that, but unfortunately most (all?) majority-minority communities around the metro do. You have Southfield, Redford, Eastpointe, Harper Woods... all of those are decent communities with close to or greater than 50% minority population, but none of them have good schools. This isn't even getting into the school quality of River Rouge, Inkster, Pontiac, or Detroit.

School of Choice is really quite detrimental to Oak Park, and many mixed income or mixed race communities, as parents who have the means to get their students into other districts typically do, and so you have districts like Berkley, Royal Oak, and Ferndale that have 20-40% school of choice population from nearby communities like Oak Park, Hazel Park, and Southfield - but like, it's all the kids from those districts whose parents put an emphasis on education, creating this sort of weird second layer of segregation.

Now of course ideally living within a good district's normal boundaries would preferable to school of choice, for proximity to friends and stuff, but Original Poster has indicated that price is a limiting factor, and it's tough to buy a house in West Bloomfield when Farmington Hills is unaffordable. Warren is also a decent option, but like Oak Park, it's quite segregated. North of 11 Mile the demographic looks about like Sterling Heights, south of 9 Mile it looks about like Detroit. It's gradational between the two, so that area could be an option. Southfield also has some great pockets, but being 70% black I feel like that starts to get into the realm of "not diverse", though I'm sure some neighborhoods are - the neighborhood between 11/12 and Southfield/Greenfield seems about 50% white, 40% black and maybe 10% other. Certainly finding a place in Farmington Hills would probably be the best bet if this friend likes it there, but if the market isn't permitting the purchase of a home there... well... luckily there are plenty of safe, affordable options in Metro Detroit still and it's not LA where the only places you can buy for under 250k are where you need steel bars in your windows.

[slowdawg]

Originally Posted by Geo-Aggie

Oak Park. In my opinion, you won't beat Oak Park when it comes to safe, near cool stuff, low cost of living, and racial diversity. Lathrup Village and Eastpointe are also nice communities your friend could consider.

Lathrup Village? Huh? Farmington Hills is too expensive for the OPs friend and it has a ton more affordable areas than anything in LV. Farmington Hills has cheaper neighborhoods and mobile home parks on the South side. Lathrup Village is all white collar, single family homes except for a string of condos along 11 mile. Its far, far less affordable than Farmington Hills. its basically a large, upper-middle class subdivision with its own post office and police department. its boring, too. A few medical offices, travel agencies, and clothes shops. Its about 70% black and the rest are mostly old Jewish families, so not exactly diverse.
South Farmington Hills may be worth a closer look. The areas around Middlebelt and Inkster, south of 10 mile, and along Grand River offer some very affordable housing and a better mix of retail.
I would also look at Clinton township. They have everything-apartments, mobile home parks, small starter homes, all the way up to luxury housing. Many italians, some chaldeans, asians, and quite a few African-americans, particularly due to its proximity to Mt Clemens. Neighborhoods bordering Mt Clemens are CHEAP. Areas along 14/15 mile are affordable. Roseville is very affordable, too. Great shopping and dining options. large African-American presence, as well as middle-eastern families. Its one of the lowest cost-of-living-cities in metro detroit.

[snoopygirlmi]

Canton would be a good choice. Lots of diversity. Low cost of living.