An agreement has been reached between the Detroit Land Bank Authority and City Council to work together on stabilizing neighborhoods for the next year.
The land bank has been working for nearly two years without a formal agreement in place; the prior agreement expired in December 2023. A memorandum of understanding outlining each party’s responsibilities and services was first reached in 2014 and renewed in 2020.
The latest agreement had sat in a council committee since then. Council Member Mary Waters had attempted to make various amendments to the agreement meant to shift responsibilities to the city’s Housing Department and create more transparency.
Much of the agreement was ultimately the same as the prior contract. Council members added language to expand outreach and relocation efforts for people living in houses owned by the land bank and create discounts for land sold to community land trusts.
Community Land Trusts can receive a 50% discount for land bank property used for land beautification or affordable housing projects, plus an 80% discount on housing developments where a quarter of the units are affordable for people earning 50% of the area median income.
The agreement is active for one year. It declares a “blight emergency” in Detroit and says the land bank is “ideally situated to dispose of property” under unique power it has under state law to expedite clearing of titles and negotiating sales.
The land bank officials are pure gangster supported by a corrupt BSEED division! It can’t be by coincidence that as soon as a permit is granted for major repairs to property that the said property is victimized and major components such as heating and cooling systems are stolen! This is why so many people have trouble completing needed repairs! The whole lot of them are criminals
I agree, I have witnessed it in my neighborhood. I have reported it to the city. I got no reply.