One of the largest factors and causes of the housing crisis in Detroit is the impact that overassessments on properties and those that call these properties home have had. Overassessments by the city of Detroit have cost Detroit taxpayers to pay over hundreds of millions of dollars in property taxes since a recession that saw the value of all of these property values drop. Yet, Detroiters have been paying abysmal property tax rates, some of which can be so unaffordable that owners of these properties get foreclosed on for not being able to pay these absurd tax rates. How to Kill a City specifically touches on these property tax rate foreclosures and the effect that they have had on Detroit. When houses outside of the 7.2 are getting overassessed, and houses within the 7.2 are getting under-assessed, it’s not difficult to see why a city with so much space is emptying out.
This is especially interesting to me as a DREAM of Detroit intern as my organization directly deals with housing and land development, but what is the point of developing all these houses if we aren’t going to address the systemic issues that keep them vacant. That is the multifaceted nature of community work, and it is through DREAM that I am able to observe the work that is done by our organization, but also the work that is done with our partners such as the Coalition for Property Tax Justice to advocate and demand change so that this symptom is treated at the root of the cause.
Every day I bike to my site, a few miles north of the Fisher Building in New Center, and the stark contrast between the streets before and after the Boston-Edison neighborhood is one that is characterized by vacant homes, overgrown lots, and abandoned schools. It is a clear picture of how neglected these neighborhoods are in comparison to the 7.2, and that begs the question…
how responsible is the private sector in ensuring that the cities that they come into are being taken care of? Do large investors have a responsibility to the rest of the city?
Or should we rather be asking why the city’s government has been so complacent in neglecting the rest of the city in favor of the private sector?
Hi Buraq! I think that your analysis of How to Kill a City in connection with your site is really insightful. The major theme I took away from yesterday’s discussion is how the most beautiful parts of a city can be neglected in order to pour a disproportionate amount of resources into one area. The picture of your ride is beautiful, thank you for sharing!
I appreciate the visuals you provided in your excerpt. Very descriptive and self-aware!
Hi Buraq, I thought that your commentary was particularly insightful because you seemed so aware of your personal role in the city. I look forward to hearing what else you come up with this summer!