Tag: detroit

Tax Increment Financing (TIF): Revitalization Tool, Developer Handout … or Both?

Tax increment financing attracts development in disinvested areas, but it also diverts millions of tax revenue away from city services to investors. And some claim officials are using the program in racist and corrupt ways. What is TIF? And how does it work?

Through Her Eyes: Community Organizing in Detroit

Kea Mathis organizes alongside tenants—mostly Black, women-led households—to create and support affordable, quality housing. "It is very hard . . . as a Black woman here, to be the one to try to ask the question first or stand up first,” says Mathis.

How Tax Assessments are Racist

Between biased property appraisals that undervalue Black-owned properties and biased tax assessments that levy an unfair burden, homeowners of color are flanked by a double-whammy of racism.

Donna Price—An Organizer in Detroit

Once homeless, Donna Price persevered with unshakable strength, which landed her in a position she once couldn’t imagine.

A Homeownership Program that Takes Health into Account

A 10-city initiative to boost homeownership also aims to align required fair housing and health needs assessments. Can it be done?

Racial Equity, Housing, and COVID: A Roundtable

Six regional and state housing advocates discuss the connections between uprisings over racial injustice, the pandemic, and the need for housing security.

Organizing for Water Security in Detroit

A coalition's comprehensive study on the Detroit region’s water ills also acts as a road map to organizers' work around water justice.

Housing on the Political Agenda in U.S. Elections

No longer an issue that’s hard to rally people around, affordable housing—especially inclusionary housing—is getting talked about in local elections across the country.

It’s Our Race Relations, Not the Economy, that Need Healing

Last Thursday, I was listening to Bruce Katz on NPR talk about Detroit’s recent bankruptcy and the set of metropolitan-oriented strategies/practices that he thinks...

Detroit: Precise Associates

“When we try to stabilize neighborhoods, rather than being scattered in approach, we try to buy as many properties as possible in a given...

Planning on Shrinking

It’s time to understand that shrinkage is no longer somebody else’s problem.

Where Do We Fit In? CDCs and the Emerging Shrinking City...

As some cities begin to admit they are shrinking, CDCs in high-abandonment neighborhoods are rethinking their traditional roles, and even their missions.