Is the rate of housing abandonment below current demolition rates?

[David L]

I've been watching the land back abandoned house sales and prices and frequency of sales is on the rise. What about abandonment? Is renovated housing keeping pace, or is Detroit still loosing housing stock?
What zip codes are strongest/weakest?

[ndavies]

The city is still losing housing stock.

All you need to do is look at permits. https://data.detroitmi.gov/Property-...mits/xw2a-a7tf

The number of dismantle [[Wreck and Remove) permits still far exceeds new build permits.

There is good news, as the number of renovations are increasing.

[Colombian Dan]

Detroit will have for the next 20 years plus, 80,000 abandoned structures to tear down every year... It's not so much Detroit has "old" housing stock, it's because so many buildings are destroyed by arson. Even recently built homes around the John R and 7 mile hood are burned down..So Detroit can build new houses but soon enough those new houses quickly become eye sores...Unless the culture changes in Detroit I see no pause in Detroits demolition.....

[Jason]

imo demolishing buildings is just chasing something that can never be caught.

It's true that abandoned buildings are places where crime happens and they bring down the neighborhoods around them. But demolishing the houses doesn't address the real problems of the neighborhoods.

The absence of abandoned buildings is not the presence of positive factors that help the neighborhood.

There's already some acceptance that they can't handle the entire city [[it's not their fault, there's just so many buildings), so they prioritize areas around schools for example.

But I think that every time they demolish a house in one of these critical areas they should replace it with a new house. There should also be coordination with other city resources and non profits on these critical areas. If the neighborhood is ultimately going to fail there's no point in bothering in the first place, so I think it really needs to be a full effort on specific areas in order for it to be successful. And I think part of this is acknowledging that some parts of the city are going to fail and that there's nothing the city can do about it.

That's what I think but the political, legal, and financial realities don't allow that.

[archfan]

Detroit will have for the next 20 years plus, 80,000 abandoned structures to tear down every year... It's not so much Detroit has "old" housing stock, it's because so many buildings are destroyed by arson. Even recently built homes around the John R and 7 mile hood are burned down..So Detroit can build new houses but soon enough those new houses quickly become eye sores...Unless the culture changes in Detroit I see no pause in Detroits demolition.....

According to the article below, Detroit in 2015 had 385,000 properties. The article does say 84,000 are on the blight list, so that's in line with your number. If 80,000 were blighted each year, we wouldn't have a usable building in the city in five years.

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/new...ying/27237787/

Your number of fires is high as well. The DFD wikipedia article says there were 3700 structural fires in 2015, down from 4600 in 2014. Still too high, but not 80,000.

[Bham1982]

imo demolishing buildings is just chasing something that can never be caught.

Yup. I understand why abandoned buildings are demolished. But we actually aren't doing anything for the city.

The end-result is just suburban-looking neighborhoods, still blighted, and with the same social conditions which resulted in the abandoned buildings.

If outer Detroit ever has the conditions to revitalize, the urban form will be gone. If Dexter Davison could ever come back, there's nothing really to build upon. The retail strips are almost all gone, replaced by gas stations and fast food joints [[if you're lucky - the really bad areas have nothing). There is hardly a non-upscale residential block that isn't plagued with vacant lots.

[EASTSIDE CAT 67-83]

Detroit will have for the next 20 years plus, 80,000 abandoned structures to tear down every year... It's not so much Detroit has "old" housing stock, it's because so many buildings are destroyed by arson. Even recently built homes around the John R and 7 mile hood are burned down..So Detroit can build new houses but soon enough those new houses quickly become eye sores...Unless the culture changes in Detroit I see no pause in Detroits demolition.....

IMHO, the only way the culture will change is if there is a significant change in demographics within the city limits and what I mean by demographics is an increase in middle income family oriented residents. Urban hipsters are fine but they tend to migrate back out to the burbs once a little bambino comes along [[I don't really blame them). It was the families that provided strength, structure and permanence to Detroit neighborhoods...I not sure the city and those with deep pockets that invest in it will be able to create the environment that will entice those young mid-income families into the remaining neighborhoods where you can buy a prospective re-habber home for a song.