Quote Originally Posted by Bigdd View Post
Until you have safe neighborhoods and good schools,... you WILL NOT see any significant new single family home construction or even renovation.
I'm not sure we need more single family home construction. We have way too much supply as it is. Renovation, I could buy, but construction doesn't need to be done on a massive scale.


Nearly all of the people moving into Detroit are temporary at this point. When they start thinking about having children,.. they will buy a home elsewhere.
I find this concept puzzling. Most successful cities are filled with transitional people. Manhattan is a revolving door. San Francisco real estate prices are not conducive for raising a family.

The 2010 census shows Ann Arbor as having 45,000 households of which only 21,000 are families. Think about that...more than 50% of the households in Ann Arbor are not families settling down but more likely people who will move away in the next five years.

Heavens to Betsy...50% of Ann Arbor households plan to move in 5 years.

There is nothing wrong with building a core downtown around people who will likely be gone in 3-5 years. Hell, in most cities, that's exactly what is working best.