Property Assessments in Detroit, Foreclosures and Predatory Cities

The link below is to an opinion essay published in the morning paper. In its financial crisis, the city of Detroit stopped reassessing properties shortly after 2000. Property values
fell after 2008 but home owners will still charge property taxes as if their home at not last value. Apparently, people owing
upscale expensive homes in Detroit went through the cumbersome process to have their assessments cut but those owning modest structures seldom did so.
Shortly after taking office, Mayor Duggan had properties assessed anew. I believe many home owners saw their tax bills cut by 15 to 20%.
The author of this opinion essay is well known for her work on how overassessments generated foreclosures in Detroit.
Her new essay describes Detroit as one of several predatory cities and suggest that homes of modest value in Detroit may
still be assessed at unrealistically high values. Givesen the economic devastation caused by Covid19, this may lead to more foereclosures.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/o...sultPosition=1

Thank you for this though I did not go past the free-sign-in-wall.

Prof. Atuahene is spot on. It is really, really hard to hang onto your
place, either globally, or within the United States or within Detroit,
as you are pointing out here. This is even without the state
dispossessions that concern Prof. Atuahene and that even
happen in Detroit.

I am NOT being snarky here despite appearances: I just don't
think that going to auto messaging for 911 calls will help.

There is the one percent that came through with the Detroit
bankruptcy - aka the bondholders - and anyone getting a City
of Detroit paycheck grudgingly went along with this due to
popular acclaim for the bankruptcy - this acclaim was more from
the Tea Party than the socialist workers - but it was adopted
by the Michigan mainstream as something that was needed
in the wake of the Great Recession which entailed numerous
layoffs in Michigan which hit Detroit hard.

The one percent did not go away. They still want their
bonds to be solvent. If the 911 operator paycheck and pension
money are needed for bond payments - since the casinos
have closed and homeowners are deservedly, and thanks to
the ACLU and others, about to be reimbursed for overpaid
property taxes - well then so be it.

Defund the police.

[[No, I don't really think the police should be defunded. I think
911 operators should be kept on the job. Their pay should be
comparable to that in surrounding cities. All areas of the city
should have community-forward interactions. Many police
officers ~do~ get this. However there is a guiding 1%
motivation behind many urban policies and much of the
messaging that is put out there.)

I also didn't read the article but I'm not a fan of the newest outrage over "predatory" assessments.

Were the assessments out of date? Yes of course they were. The assessment process was dysfunctional and underfunded. Was this a conspiracy by big evil powerful people to abuse and oppress the good people of Detroit? Was the dysfunctional EMS response, police and fire, streetlights garbage collection, road and sidewalk repair, park maintenance, and every single other function and service the city provided, also a predatory plot? No of course not.

With the bankruptcy, the city's finances and ability to function properly improved, and reassessing properties was made a priority. As far as I know, since the big reassessment, the city has been reasonably assessing properties.

I don't think it's reasonable or practical or desirable to litigate every property's past assessment accuracy. First the city pays out the $600 million it supposedly owes, then the lawyers come out and the city will dish out billions more.

I also don't think the assessments really have much to do with the issue of foreclosures in the city. I think the average home value in Detroit is $15,000. For that, property taxes should be about $500 a year. If you can't afford $43 a month in order to stay in your home, then it doesn't matter what the city is or isn't assessing or what kind of tax programs are available, you're just too flat out poor to afford to own a house. If there's not money for that, then there's certainly not money for a new roof, boiler, windows, sidewalk, driveway, or kitchen appliances. There's not money to have a repairman come and look at any problems with the house. There's not money to put gas in the lawnmower to mow the grass, let alone maintain decent landscaping.


I do think that housing security is an important issue, and I think it would do a lot for many people in Detroit, as well as the overall health and success of the city, if people didn't have to worry about being homeless or worry about their physical safety within their own home. It has a big impact, especially on kids. I would personally like the city to build mixed income city-owned housing. Around the world there are a lot of examples of high quality housing that's inexpensive to build and maintain. The benefit of this is the housing would be an asset the city would be able to use for generations, and the development of this housing would contribute to the city's other goals, like stabilizing neighborhoods, having steady school populations, and efficiently utilizing infrastructure.

Thank you very much for your comments. We have a national challenging of a shortage of affordable housing. This problem differs from one city to another. We have a long history of the government attempting to solve this problem from urban renewal in the 1950s to the Opportunity Zone legislation of 2017. However, the problem remains. Our Secretary of HUD grew up in modest housing in southwest Detroit and knows about these issues, I presume. We have yet to hear his policy recommendations to
solve this national problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jason

I also didn't read the article but I'm not a fan of the newest outrage over "predatory" assessments.

Were the assessments out of date? Yes of course they were. The assessment process was dysfunctional and underfunded. Was this a conspiracy by big evil powerful people to abuse and oppress the good people of Detroit? Was the dysfunctional EMS response, police and fire, streetlights garbage collection, road and sidewalk repair, park maintenance, and every single other function and service the city provided, also a predatory plot? No of course not.

With the bankruptcy, the city's finances and ability to function properly improved, and reassessing properties was made a priority. As far as I know, since the big reassessment, the city has been reasonably assessing properties.

I don't think it's reasonable or practical or desirable to litigate every property's past assessment accuracy. First the city pays out the $600 million it supposedly owes, then the lawyers come out and the city will dish out billions more.

I also don't think the assessments really have much to do with the issue of foreclosures in the city. I think the average home value in Detroit is $15,000. For that, property taxes should be about $500 a year. If you can't afford $43 a month in order to stay in your home, then it doesn't matter what the city is or isn't assessing or what kind of tax programs are available, you're just too flat out poor to afford to own a house. If there's not money for that, then there's certainly not money for a new roof, boiler, windows, sidewalk, driveway, or kitchen appliances. There's not money to have a repairman come and look at any problems with the house. There's not money to put gas in the lawnmower to mow the grass, let alone maintain decent landscaping.


I do think that housing security is an important issue, and I think it would do a lot for many people in Detroit, as well as the overall health and success of the city, if people didn't have to worry about being homeless or worry about their physical safety within their own home. It has a big impact, especially on kids. I would personally like the city to build mixed income city-owned housing. Around the world there are a lot of examples of high quality housing that's inexpensive to build and maintain. The benefit of this is the housing would be an asset the city would be able to use for generations, and the development of this housing would contribute to the city's other goals, like stabilizing neighborhoods, having steady school populations, and efficiently utilizing infrastructure.

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The average Detroit home price is 43K and the Taxes would be $1500 without a NEZ. To have any intelligent debate on the subject somewhat accurate figures are necessary instead of just guesses that fit into a narrative.

$1500 on 43K house is insane. There is no wonder it is a slum lords paradise chock full of residential structures rotting into the ground. Homeowners in Detroit have been victimized for decades by a system designed to reward developers out in the farm fields of the suburbs, land speculators and the rural state residents.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/bu...it/4466514002/

https://treas-secure.state.mi.us/pte...TEstimator.asp

What your higher Detroit tax bill gets you is the bus system with its
drivers and their healthcare and their pensions and the police with
their healthcare and their pensions.

The police are very needed. One one level there are the serious
crimes that happen that need the homicide unit and the arson squad.

On another level, each and every day, twenty four hours a day,
they are impromptu arbitrators for neighborhood issues. These days
the most common concern is fireworks which were
made far more available to the general public than in prior
years. There is a tension between people who desire their block to
be a quiet one and people who need it to be the amusement
park block. The police are called to arbitrate. If they sometimes
think that they are the judge and the jury that is because the
majority of such matters don't make it into a courtroom - not
that the police should abuse anybody for any reason.

Then also the police are tasked with applying the city ordinances
for blight and other matters, especially concerning vehicles on the
streets. It does make a block look somewhat better and does
raise funds for, among other things, police healthcare, police pensions,
and bond payments. Unfortunately, lately, irregular bulk and yard
waste placed on lots and curbside is usually not picked up
expeditiously so there tends to be more blight on that account.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ABetterDetroit

The average Detroit home price is 43K and the Taxes would be $1500 without a NEZ. To have any intelligent debate on the subject somewhat accurate figures are necessary instead of just guesses that fit into a narrative.

$1500 on 43K house is insane.

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Jeez, reading that makes me so glad I moved to Nevada when I retired in 1984. Taxes on my home, which cost me 300k plus, are a bit over $1,200. And we have no state or city income tax. Just sayin'.

Taxes on a $ 43,000 house should be $800 a year.

But high crime causes a city to go into a financial death-spiral.

People move away, which lowers tax revenue.

Houses get abandoned, which lowers tax revenue.

Neighboring houses drop in value, which lowers tax revenue.


All the while, there's a dramatic increase in the need for police, fire and EMS. All of which increase a city's costs.


The crime was committed by residents. The incompetent city council members we've had over the years were voted in by residents. [[That illiterate school board president was voted in by residents). Big corporation X doesn't get even ONE vote,.. even though they may have as much invested into the city as 10,000 residents who CAN vote.

I don't think this is one we can blame on corporations, or the proverbial "whitey in the suburbs".

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bigdd

Taxes on a $ 43,000 house should be $800 a year.

But high crime causes a city to go into a financial death-spiral.

People move away, which lowers tax revenue.

Houses get abandoned, which lowers tax revenue.

Neighboring houses drop in value, which lowers tax revenue.


All the while, there's a dramatic increase in the need for police, fire and EMS. All of which increase a city's costs.


The crime was committed by residents. The incompetent city council members we've had over the years were voted in by residents. [[That illiterate school board president was voted in by residents). Big corporation X doesn't get even ONE vote,.. even though they may have as much invested into the city as 10,000 residents who CAN vote.

I don't think this is one we can blame on corporations, or the proverbial "whitey in the suburbs".

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I feel like this applies to most things "whitey from the burbs" gets blamed for.

The seats on the Detroit City Council are very competitive.

Council members who are very responsive to the citizens
in their district - who can go door to door when running for
council, and who send their staff members to neighborhood
meetings, who try to get issues resolved - usually see a
meaningful increase in votes during the next election cycle.

In the future if there is a thread discussing those running
for Detroit City Council, please do add your comments there
regarding which councilpersons should be voted out. If
there is an alternative candidate in an "incompetent"
councilperson's district that you can highly recommend,
the best thing you can do is go door to door for that alternative
in that district. The best thing about doing that is that
you would learn the concerns that your alternative would
be dealing with if elected.

The current peeve in my area about suburbanites is that they
are applying for places in those Detroit high schools for which
one needs to pass an entrance exam.