Detroit City Council Member Mary Waters says she’s “on a mission” to dismantle the Detroit Land Bank Authority, an entity she contends has led to the “inhumane” treatment of residents. 

“I want the land bank gone. I’ll be very blunt about it,” the at-large councilwoman said during a Monday night Meet the Candidates forum hosted by BridgeDetroit in District 3. Waters said if she didn’t regularly hear concerns from residents, “maybe I could find some good in the land bank,” but added, “if there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, I cannot find it.”

Waters’ remarks come after the City Council last month eliminated a general fund subsidy for the authority in the upcoming fiscal budget and as members wrestle over the terms of the most recently proposed agreement for the operation of the land bank in the years ahead. 

District 3 Council Member Scott Benson countered that he’s a “strong supporter” of the land bank and has been since it was established in 2008 to oversee Detroit’s massive inventory of vacant, blighted properties. 

The land bank ramped up its staffing and efforts in the spring of 2014 with an infusion of federal Hardest Hit funding to launch an unprecedented demolition program, a cornerstone initiative of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s tenure. 

“The land bank is a critical tool that we need and will continue to need,” Benson said. “It will work itself out of business, but not anytime soon.”

The value of the land bank and its performance, home repair funding and programming were among the topics debated during the forum at Osborn High School. Besides Benson and Waters, at-large council candidate Levan Adams, a detective and 25-year veteran of Detroit’s police department, was also in attendance. The District 3 council race will not appear on the August primary ballot. Instead, Benson and his District 3 challenger, Cranstana Anderson, will advance to the November general election. Anderson did not attend the BridgeDetroit forum. 

The program is part of a nine-part BridgeDetroit candidate series taking place in City Council districts throughout the summer. 

READ MORE:

• District 1: City Council candidates talk voter engagement, immigration at northwest Detroit forum
• District 2: Police interactions, surveillance dominate Detroit candidate talk

Adams on Monday shared a view similar to Waters, arguing that the land bank “is not adding up” and “we need to get to the bottom of it.”  

“I think the whole thing needs to be dismantled,” he said. 

Land bank CEO Tammy Daniels said as the holder of all publicly-owned residential properties the land bank has a vital role in Detroit. It facilitates the sale of neighborhood lots and sidelots and has the ability to sell properties to residents at below market value. If steps were taken to dissolve the land bank, those programs would likely go away, she said. 

Daniels said the land bank has been working under the terms of an expired Memorandum of Understanding for over a year and a half. She hopes that a new agreement will soon be approved by Detroit’s City Council. 

“The land bank remains committed to executing our commitment to the residents whether there’s a new MOU or not,” she told BridgeDetroit. “We’re committed to doing the things we have been doing and providing the services we have been providing.”

The discussion ramped up in response to remarks from Kevin “Coach Kellogg” Jones, who is a 2025 candidate for City Council District 5. Jones noted frequent community complaints about the land bank and his own jarring experiences with the changing landscape in the city. 

The former Detroit teacher left the city to live in Georgia. When he returned in 2017, he said he traveled down St. Aubin and instead of seeing 100 houses from Gratiot to I-94, there were only six or seven. 

“So, tears flew down my eyes,” he said. “We are allowing the land bank to sell the lots to people in Europe who don’t cut the grass. How are we going to control the land bank?”

The city demolished more than 15,000 blighted homes with $265 million in federal funding over multiple rounds of the program through August 2020. But the effort, which, at that time, was jointly run by the land bank and Detroit Building Authority, wasn’t without controversy. It came under scrutiny early on over soaring costs and bidding concerns, which prompted federal, state and city reviews and investigations. In 2020, the city established a municipally-controlled Demolition Department to oversee demolition work and, Proposal N, the city’s $250 million blight elimination effort.

During budget deliberations last month, the council voted to eliminate the land bank’s entire $5 million recommended subsidy, further dropping from $10.5 million last year. Council members said that they felt comfortable with the cut because the land bank has $52 million in reserves.

Daniels said the council’s decision to cut the subsidy is “disappointing” but the land bank can and will rely on its surplus to help support its existing programs and to grow its new ones. 

Council President Mary Sheffield, who is running for mayor, has said she wants to bring management of the land bank’s inventory within Detroit’s Housing and Revitalization Department. 

The land bank had 63,566 properties in its inventory as of its most recent quarterly report in April, much of those parcels – or 59,039 – are vacant lots. 

When it comes to the prospect of shifting certain land disposition programs to city departments, Daniels said she’s open to whatever is best for the city’s residents.

“We follow the lead of the city … and will do whatever is in the best interest of the city. There’s always talk of certain things moving away from the land bank. I just would remind people that the land bank is a tool – a very powerful tool – that has effectively been directed at problems to try to address them. With a new administration coming in (next year) we look forward to working with them and to seed some of their ideas and initiatives to see that come to pass.” 

Another intense area of debate Monday evening was the effectiveness and availability of programs to aid seniors and low-income residents with home repairs. 

Waters, who spearheaded some of that work, said the city has made strides assisting residents with federal American Rescue Plan Act funding allocated during the COVID-19 pandemic. She acknowledged, though, that those programs are income restricted. To address that challenge, Waters said in the last budget cycle she pressed for a “Workforce Housing Fund” with support from $500,000 in one-time funding from the city’s general fund to create a public-private partnership to help residents who are just outside of the income threshold for other programs to complete home repairs. 

“Sometimes if they make $50 too much, they can’t receive any help,” said Waters, noting the city’s Housing and Revitalization Department would have to decide which nonprofit the city would work with on the initiative. 

Waters also said she wants land bank homes to go to Detroiters in need, including individuals who are experiencing homelessness. 

“If we can at least get the (land bank) houses back to help Detroiters, I would be happy,” she said. 

Benson disagreed, saying the land bank’s homes are “lonely and unwanted” and someone would need at least $100,000 to tackle repairs.

“I would be really concerned, as a city, if we start giving homes to people who are already in dire straits, a home that is already healthy in itself,” he said. 

Benson said city grant programs for senior housing help are “oversubscribed,” and the wait can take years. Instead, he lifted up the city’s 0% Interest Home Repair Loan Program, which launched in 2015. Homeowners approved for the program have 10 years to pay back the loans. But some Detroiters remain hesitant to pursue a loan for home repairs, even if it is 0%. 

Benson also gave attendees an overview Monday night of his 11 years representing District 3, his achievements and his goals for a next term.

“My three primary areas of public advocacy have been jobs, jobs and more jobs. I’m a firm believer that people need to be working and people need to be making money,” he said. 

He pointed to progress with the reinvention plan for Detroit City Airport and the long-awaited deal to bring Davis Aerospace back to the grounds. He also discussed his “Dining with Confidence” ordinance. The law, which went into effect last fall, requires food service establishments to display color-coded placards to indicate whether they are in compliance or have been closed for failure to address serious violations of the state’s food safety code. Benson has been vocal about party stores and tobacco shops illegally selling products to youth and noted that six gas stations in the district have been shut down in response. 

Incumbent Waters and Adams are among the field of contenders vying for two at-large seats on the council. Other at-large candidates are incumbent Coleman Young II, former Detroit council member Janee’ Ayers, attorney Shakira Hawkins and Detroit Fire Department veteran James Harris as well as Valerie Parker and Gary Hunter.

Adams, who has attended multiple BridgeDetroit events, reiterated his goal of upending “politics as usual” and a campaign focused on economic development and resources for returning citizens. 

Waters, a former state lawmaker and first-term council member, said she’s made things happen for Detroiters, including the housing and home repair initiatives she’s championed, services for retirees and veterans and a minority task force to ensure minorities can become registered vendors with the city. 

“I take public service very seriously,” she said. “You have to love the people you represent, you really do, in order to be successful.” 

Adams said he, too, is concerned with ensuring there are benefits for veterans and said there should be designated parking spots for vets at city stadiums and challenged Waters to make it happen. 

“You got it,” she responded. 

For the next term, Benson said he’d advocate for robust regional transit and to ensure there’s stable funding to support the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and the Detroit Historical Museum. Efforts at the state level to put a millage proposal before voters in Wayne and Oakland counties haven’t yet advanced. 

The candidates also weighed in on how the city can remain on solid financial footing in the years ahead and amid uncertainty with the new Trump presidential administration. 

“We have to live beneath our means. We need to put in savings every year and provide basic city services at a high level,” he said. “We need to maintain a stable environment, free of chaos. For a long time, chaos was normalized in the city of Detroit.”

During Donald Trump’s first presidency, he said, “We survived and thrived,” and he expects the same this time. 

Waters added that her goal going forward is to tackle income-based housing for Detroiters, which means taking a serious look at the Area Median Income (AMI), a regional measure set by the federal government to determine housing affordability.

“We’re locked in. We need our very own (AMI), frankly,” she said. “You want to be able to help the people that you represent and sometimes you can’t get it done since it comes from the federal and state side.” 

Both Benson and Waters said they will work in partnership with whoever is elected as Detroit’s next mayor. Benson said he’s looking for a “pro-growth” mayor who is committed to building up the city’s general fund.

“We can’t wait for DC to come save us; we have to work hard to save ourselves,” he said. “We’re well prepared, well-positioned and we have exercised the discipline to be fiscally responsible and provide top-quality services in the city of Detroit.”

BridgeDetroit’s next Meet the Candidates event is from 5:30-8 p.m. at the Eastside Community Network on June 12.