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Robert Inman - Going Forward: What's Next for Detroit(?)
Jul 31,2013
Jodie Kirshner Addresses Detroit Vacant Houses
in a Panel Hosted by Triumph Church
In an event hosted by Triumph Church in Detroit, one of the largest churches in Michigan, Mayor Mike Duggan spoke on his ballot proposal to address vacant and abandoned houses in Detroit. Research Professor Jodie Adams Kirshner participated in a subsequent panel discussion alongside former Deputy Mayor Anthony Adams and Detroit News columnist, Bankole Thompson. When asked, “What would quality, stable housing look like in Detroit and what should a main housing policy look like for the residents?” Kirshner responded by telling the story of Reggie, one of the people chronicled in her book. She ends with:
We have numerous things we don’t want to see in housing policy here. We have federal abdication of oversight of subprime mortgages that lead to properties like both of the ones that Reggie found himself owning. We have abdication of state oversight of how houses were secured following their mortgage foreclosure. We have the complete lack of law that applies to the land contract as an instrument, not even the regular protections that a tenant would have. We have the lack of any high-quality, affordable option for somebody like Reggie. And, all of those are things you would want to see differently in a stable housing policy.