8000 Renovated Homes in Detroit?

Mayor Duggan claims in his campaign literature that 8000 homes in Detroit have been renovated. Does anyone know what the definition of "renovated" means according to the mayor? I have seen a handful of homes in my neighborhood get new vinyl siding, new windows, new sod. Yet, out of all of these "so-called" renovated homes, I have only seen one family move in to one. In many of the cases, the house gets the outside renovations, but then sits for months if not years vacant and no further renovations. No "For Sale" signs are being put up as well. Is Mayor Duggan's administration paying folks to partially fix up houses in Detroit in order to give the appearance that a Detroit house has been renovated? I'm curious as to what's really going on. Who's got the skinny?

There was a 1800s Victorian house that popped up on my feed that needed some love for sale and had an interesting history behind it over by where poletown is or was,apparently it was owned by the farm that used to reside over there.

At any rate,there was a whole paragraph concerning tax capture by the land bank,also when you see drive videos of the city unrelated you can see homes being offered and rehabbed by the land bank in the background.

It appears as though the program is being run under them,and they would be the verification source.

It is like anything else though,the media prefers to highlight the negative and not the positive, so unless one really digs into it you never know.

This program comes in and does the heavy stuff and the new homeowner does the finishing touches.

https://buildingdetroit.org/rehabbed-ready

There was also a group of banks that were also offering no interest loans or buy and fix up to 110% but it appears to have expired in 2020.

I do not think it was a cut and dry program of,buy it,rehab then sell,more so a multi layered choice of options where the total may have reached the 8000 mark,it could be counting houses that were turned over to buyers in various stages of completion that is considered and counted as a rehab or with the loans home owners that took advantage of the $25k and those are also counted.

It also depends on what ones definition of a renovation is,it does not really matter in that context as the goal is to improve existing housing and bring more housing online verses scorch and burn.

It does not matter what it is called as long as it is moving forward with positive results and keeping people in their homes,while adding more housing stock without demolishing everything in the process.

Oh I love any time we get to use the term "potemkin village".

^ verses drowning in negativity?

Nothing really matters outside of is the city in a better place today then it was yesterday,in the bigger picture 8000 or 20,000 homes is irrelevant,1 is a step in the right direction.

It is not the city’s job to run around telling everybody the sky is falling,it’s to instill hope and show progress with positive vibes.

If you surround yourself with negatively,that is what you become.

Seems the number comes from 2014-2020

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The city estimates there are about 22,000 abandoned homes throughout Detroit that need attention. With up to $250 million in bond proceeds, the city would rehab about 8,000 of them and demolish the remaining 14,000. In the last six years, the city has demolished 21,000 homes and has fixed up — or is in the process of fixing up — an additional 8,000 vacant homes.

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source

I did some fact checking about Duggan's claims that 8,000 Detroit homes are renovated. Is it TRUE, FALSE or BE CAREFUL!!!

I would say BE CAREFUL! There are reports that close to 21,000 Detroit buildings has been demolished. But there could be estimates anywhere from 15,000 to 17,000. As for 8,000 Detroit buildings. I will say about an estimate of 4,000 to 7,000 buildings being renovated. Not to mention that the Detroit Land Bank can make way too many property errors of customers trying to buy vacant and abandon buildings.

Remember Nicole Curtis who fought and won the property war against the Land Bank which they claimed that we got they property? It could happen to other people who wants a piece of Detroit ghetto hoods and end up with a bum steer.

Isn't political media propaganda great or what?

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Originally Posted by royce

Is Mayor Duggan's administration paying folks to partially fix up houses in Detroit in order to give the appearance that a Detroit house has been renovated?

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If it looks, slithers and hisses like a snake, it sure ain't a puppy.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

If it looks, slithers and hisses like a snake, it sure ain't a puppy.

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The link I posted clearly reads crews were partially doing work and leaving the rest for the purchaser.

Most likely taking care of structural aspects,plumbing and electricity and leaving the rest up to who ever purchases it to finish it at their leisure.

When it is spelled out pretty clear where does the snake aspect come in?

The answer to the post you quoted would be yes,because that was the intent,nothing nefarious about that.

If they said they renovated 8000 homes at a cost of 1 million per home,then yea it would be questionable.

Anything related is public information,outside of that it is speculation.

Reading through the article quickly, it sounds like they took care of the basic code violations, and got the houses into move in condition. I think the problem arises with Duggan's choice of the adjective "renovated", which implies ALL the work is totally completed. Reading the link tells you that isn't the case.

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Originally Posted by Honky Tonk

Reading through the article quickly, it sounds like they took care of the basic code violations, and got the houses into move in condition. I think the problem arises with Duggan's choice of the adjective "renovated", which implies ALL the work is totally completed. Reading the link tells you that isn't the case.

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The Land Bank has 2 categories. Duggan is probably playing fast and lose with lumping both categories into the 'renovated' bucket, if that truly is the 8k referred to. Nonetheless, it's a large effort and more than any previous administration attempted.

Attachment 41791

'Rehabbed + Ready to Renovate' does alot more than basic code violation.

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Generally, the following items are completed by the DLBA Property Rehab team:

• New/repaired siding
• New/repaired windows
• New/repaired roof
• New/repaired sewer line
• Full environmental abatement [[lead and asbestos)
• Foundation assessment and repairs
• New/repaired brickwork
• New/repaired flatwork
• Interior carpentry completed—selective demo and new framing
• Drywall hung, mudded, taped
• New HVAC system
• New electrical system [[without fixtures)
• New interior plumbing [[without fixtures)

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Originally Posted by Richard

The link I posted clearly reads crews were partially doing work and leaving the rest for the purchaser.

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The question isn't whether any work was done, but whether he's playing fast & loose with how he defines "renovated," and thus the number of homes as well to make the effort under his leadership seem much greater than it actually is.

Let's not play dumb. This man is a master at spinning questionable at best stats into a positive PR story. Just look back at his time running the DMC or his demolition program before the probe started.

He has only learned from the best after all, being a protege of Detroit's notoriously corrupt McNamara machine.

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Originally Posted by Danny

I did some fact checking about Duggan's claims that 8,000 Detroit homes are renovated. Is it TRUE, FALSE or BE CAREFUL!!!

I would say BE CAREFUL! There are reports that close to 21,000 Detroit buildings has been demolished. But there could be estimates anywhere from 15,000 to 17,000. As for 8,000 Detroit buildings. I will say about an estimate of 4,000 to 7,000 buildings being renovated. Not to mention that the Detroit Land Bank can make way too many property errors of customers trying to buy vacant and abandon buildings.

Remember Nicole Curtis who fought and won the property war against the Land Bank which they claimed that we got they property? It could happen to other people who wants a piece of Detroit ghetto hoods and end up with a bum steer.

Isn't political media propaganda great or what?

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The Land Bank page has a file of all the demo'd properties in the program, their cost, demo contractor, residential or commercial etc. It can be downloaded and dropped into Excel. It's been a while since I did that but do remember the number of demo'd properties was in the 16,000 range. Progress slowed down when the TARP funds ran out.


If my memory was correct, if someone purchased a residential property they had 6 months to get the occupancy permit and moving in or the property was surrendered to the Land Bank. These were in another list that could be downloaded.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

The question isn't whether any work was done, but whether he's playing fast & loose with how he defines "renovated," and thus the number of homes as well to make the effort under his leadership seem much greater than it actually is.

Let's not play dumb. This man is a master at spinning questionable at best stats into a positive PR story. Just look back at his time running the DMC or his demolition program before the probe started.

He has only learned from the best after all, being a protege of Detroit's notoriously corrupt McNamara machine.

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So what if he is playing fast and loose with the word renovated,he is generalizing,you really expect him to get up there and go down a list of what everything has been done to every house in detail for 8000 houses more or less.

Thought my posts were long.

If you are expecting him to get up there and play the woe is me card and everybody in the city just needs to jump off of a roof tomorrow,it’s not his job.

The residents of the city are smart enough to figure out if the city is in a better place under his rein then it was before.

That is all that matters,I agree things would probably be better if he was not a D but in spite of it all,I think considering what he started with,the citizenship made a good choice and if they did not feel that way they would have never re elected him.

You are never going to get a perfect mayor nowhere,but really if word semantics is the only beef, then the city is doing a hell of a lot better then most others.

He is a politician after all and he does what they do,tell you what you want to hear.

That is not playing dumb and everything that has been done is a matter of public record,easy enough to verify,or just call him.

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Originally Posted by Richard

So what if he is playing fast and loose with the word renovated,he is generalizing,you really expect him to get up there and go down a list of what everything has been done to every house in detail for 8000 houses more or less.

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It would be nice if, for once, elected officials were honest & transparent.

That shouldn't be too much to ask for.

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Originally Posted by 313WX

It would be nice if, for once, elected official were honest & transparent.

That shouldn't be too much to ask for.

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No argument there buddy,I think Caesar would even agree.

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Originally Posted by hybridy

The Land Bank has 2 categories. Duggan is probably playing fast and lose with lumping both categories into the 'renovated' bucket, if that truly is the 8k referred to. Nonetheless, it's a large effort and more than any previous administration attempted.

Attachment 41791

'Rehabbed + Ready to Renovate' does alot more than basic code violation.

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Given the amount of work done, they should come up with a better name than “Rehabbed and Ready to Renovate.” Something like “Rehabbed and Ready to Finish.” If the houses are cleared, stabilized, have windows, roofs and major systems up to code, are drywalled, etc. then it’s more a matter of finishing the renovation to one’s standards and tastes. Seems like all the heavy lifting has been done.

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Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast

Given the amount of work done, they should come up with a better name than “Rehabbed and Ready to Renovate.” Something like “Rehabbed and Ready to Finish.” If the houses are cleared, stabilized, have windows, roofs and major systems up to code, are drywalled, etc. then it’s more a matter of finishing the renovation to one’s standards and tastes. Seems like all the heavy lifting has been done.

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"Finish Ready"

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Originally Posted by DetroiterOnTheWestCoast

Given the amount of work done, they should come up with a better name than “Rehabbed and Ready to Renovate.” Something like “Rehabbed and Ready to Finish.” If the houses are cleared, stabilized, have windows, roofs and major systems up to code, are drywalled, etc. then it’s more a matter of finishing the renovation to one’s standards and tastes. Seems like all the heavy lifting has been done.

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I think the intent is to get the new home owner involved so they can feel comfortable doing the minor maintenance in the future.

It’s one thing to buy and another to upkeep.

They had a similar program by me but the new homeowners had to complete a home maintenance program before purchase.

Plus they get to pick their own paint colors and ceiling fans etc.

When I was contracting,I hated painting and always gave the customer a discount for doing their own,surprising enough 95% preferred it.

Not sure if they require permits for painting and ceiling fans up there but it does appear as if they have done all of the permit required stuff,and really once one has a roof over their head,if it takes 6 months before a room is painted it’s no big deal.

I do not think there is even a real term in the trades that defines what they are doing,definitely not punch out ready or rough in,so I guess it is open to interpretation as to what even one wants to call it.

Almost finished even works,or needs finial TLC.

Substantial completion marks the moment in a construction project when the owner can occupy or use the property, but some punch list items remain to be completed.

So they could call it substantially completed ,but then have to explain all of that,so it’s just easier to say renovated with BYOP.