I think that one of the main points that have stuck with me both through my engagement with ODA as well as my reading of How to Kill a City is the problem of property tax foreclosure and subprime lending.
A passage that stuck with me was on Moskowitz’s conversation with a Detroit couple living in a home bought by the company, Detroit Property Exchange after it went into tax foreclosure due to Brinkley being unable to find work after heart surgery. When Moskowitz met with them, the couple explained that all their payments toward their house didn’t go towards any costs to maintain the house or property tax causing it to be sold to another company at a tax auction. However, this company has been actively trying to evict them to which Brinkley told Moskowitz that it could happen “any day now…they could come with a dumpster and throw everything into the trash” (Moskowitz 104). Months after leaving, Moskowitz reported their situation several months later,
“…I heard that Sandi Combs and Keny Brinkley had been forced to leave their house after a new set of owners came with chainsaws to cut down the massive trees the couple had planted in the front yard forty years earlier. That same day, Brinkley had a heart attack. A few days later, a nonprofit announced that it had purchased a new home for the couple farther out in Detroit, and held a little celebration in a carpeted conference room downtown. The local media reported it as a happy ending” (Moskowitz 104).
This influenced the ways I think about intention when it comes to organizational work in Detroit. It also reminds me how important historical context is when it comes to approaching equity issues in Detroit, because, through my own research for my project, I have found that tax foreclosure is one of the biggest reasons why Detroit homeowners lose their homes every year. It also makes me think about who we are letting lead organizational work in Detroit, that couple had been there for at least forty years, while that couple was able to take away everything from them in the name of “nonprofit work”. When doing work in urban revitalization or with any organization (such as DCERP) there needs to be an understanding of the phrase “the community is the expert”. When the community’s wisdom is ignored, I think that events such as the Combs and Brinkley situation happen. I think that in urban revitalization efforts, it should be Detroit residents, community leaders, and those of whom this has been their home for many, many years to decide what happens and not to have to worry about being pushed out by revitalization efforts which do happen often. So far with my research, it seems that community members are open to talking about their hopes, beliefs, wishes, and knowledge of current socioeconomic issues in Detroit, so I believe that all organizations/gov’t efforts should continue to put effort into getting community input and actually implementing what they have to say in the final project.
