Quote Originally Posted by iheartthed View Post
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.