Time To Prosecute Bank Of America - Detroit's No.1 Loan Shark

[Gistok]

I think you missed the point.

No, I read all the articles you Googled, and you've stitching together marginally related narratives and coming to conclusions that seem to answer that Detroit's problem all along has been home ownership.

Well if that were the case then suburban America, which contains more people than urban America... would be likewise devastated. And that is not the case. In most instances, suburban cities are doing better across American than their nearby urban centers.

Saying that renters are more highly mobile, and can therefore more easily relocate to higher paying jobs, is not a revelation... but common sense.

Saying that NYC, Boston and San Francisco are more successful than other cities because they have more renters than homeowners is missing the point. They're more successful for MANY reasons, too numerous to mention in blogs and short articles... and yes... it drives up the price of living... which then drives up the price of living units.

But saying that Detroit's problems stem from the fact that too much homeownership is somehow to blame for our woes, is just not true...

If that were the case... 2/3 of Europe [[where people have lived and OWNED the same houses for generations) would be a slum by now... and its' not.

Detroit's problems are much more complex than either home ownership or lack of mobility related to it.

[iheartthed]

Well if that were the case then suburban America, which contains more people than urban America... would be likewise devastated. And that is not the case. In most instances, suburban cities are doing better across American than their nearby urban centers.

This is where you are missing it. Suburban places are a subset of a local economic system. No one is arguing that high home ownership doesn't make sense for certain micro-situations. The articles just point out that there is a high correlation between high rates of home ownership across a metropolitan area and long term economic stagnation or decline. It's not even just an American phenomenon, as evidenced by the references to the same trends in England.

[Gistok]

Sorry, I still don't see it.... just comparing Detroit with the English Midlands isn't enough of a sampling, all analogies aside... the situation is so much more complex...

For rural unemployment and stagnation check out this map... I'm sure most folks ARE homeowners in rural areas... the situation is all over the proverbial map... no real pattern here.....

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...9QEwAg&dur=543

[Bham1982]

If that were the case... 2/3 of Europe [[where people have lived and OWNED the same houses for generations) would be a slum by now... and its' not.

Though the healthiest parts of Europe have the lowest homeownership rates. Mediterranean Europe has always had a far higher homeownership rate than the Germanic countries, Benelux, France, and the UK.

I'm not making any causation arguments, but the Europe example would seem to favor greater dynamism in more mobile, less rooted economies.

[Gistok]

Though the healthiest parts of Europe have the lowest homeownership rates. Mediterranean Europe has always had a far higher homeownership rate than the Germanic countries, Benelux, France, and the UK.

Outside of the dense apartment living urban cores in much of highly populated central Europe... most people not only own... but they also BUILD their own homes.

And homeowning Europeans are much less mobile than Americans, and often live in their homes for generations...

[Lily]

My folks bought the house i am in after WWII, i was raised here, hubby and moved back here and raised our son here, young grand daughter will probably be the next gen. She will be 4th generation. I have lived other places but this house is always "home"