The Battle on Blight

Nicholas Ang, Jake Elward, Jason Holloway, Duy-An Pham, Dan Saliganan
 The Battle on Blight | 1

INTRO

In Detroit, population loss and decline has led to widespread residential, industrial and

commercial abandonment. Due to the years of population decline and economic failure, some

people are abandoning their privately owned property. This has bludgeoned the city with a

multitude of vacant lots and decrepit buildings, while leaving them with little resources to get rid

of them. The proposed vaccination to this disease is the public policy that the market and

government sphere could potentially incorporate. This paper will discuss the current strategies

that the government, market and civic sector are implementing in order to fight blight. The

overall purpose of this paper is to identify and critique the current methods that these entities

have on alleviating private property abandonment. Created by the Obama Administration, federal

policies including the Blight Removal Task Force, Hardest Hit Fund Program, and Troubled

Asset Relief Program will be discussed.The state of Michigan also had a hand in creating blight

handling organizations and policies, including the Michigan State Housing Development

Authority, Step Forward Michigan program, the Detroit Land Bank, the Detroit Blight Authority,

and the Detroit Neighborhood Initiative. The effect of non-profit organizations (NGOs) will also

be talked about in great detail, in particular the Motor City Blight Busters. In regards to the

Motor City Blight Busters, we will talk about the direct action we took towards the blight

problem through our volunteer experience.

BACKGROUND

The deterioration of Detroits urban landscape can be seen through its loss of population,

businesses, and industry. In 1950, Detroit had a population of 1.86 million. By 2012, it decreased

to below 700,000 (Jimm). The movement was known as the white flight to the suburbs due to

new technologies like the freeway. Those that left and continued to work in the city could now
 The Battle on Blight | 2

commute from their white picket fence homes to the city with ease. This loss of population left a

lot of unoccupied homes with a dwindling demand for them. Due to the increase in supply and

decrease in demand, property values plummeted. This discouraged investment in the city by

businesses. Money stopped flowing into Detroit, and many corporations started moving their

manufacturing factories out of the city. On top of that, advancements in technology allowed

manufacturing plants to operate with fewer employees. Detroit saw a drop in auto manufacturing

jobs, dipping from 200,000 in 1950, to less than 20,000 today. (Jimm). Detroits current

unemployment rate is the highest in the nation, at 24.8% (US Dep. of Labor). With fewer jobs

available, more people who could afford to leave, left the city. This resulted in an urban

landscape inhabited by an unproportionally large lower class. These factors all contribute to

Detroits existing blight problem.

Blight is the disease that cripples the social and economic opportunities of cities such as

Detroit. It is the structural deformation, decay, and neglect of structures and buildings that plays

a part in leaving properties vacant across the city. According to Michigan law, property is to be

defined as blighted, if any of the following conditions are met: a public nuisance, a health

hazard, a tax-reverted property, under the control of a land bank, has been vacant for five

consecutive years, or on Detroits Building, Safety Engineering, and Environmental Department

Demolition List (Detroit Blight Removal). These conditions are met largely because of the

widespread residential, industrial, and commercial abandonment that was mentioned earlier. This

abandonment and blight that followed has left these communities riddled with vacant properties

and limited public resources to remove the structures.The extent of blight was able to spread like

a disease through its neighborhoods. According to Motor City Mapping, out of the 375,618

surveyed properties in Detroit, 84,641 properties are designated as being blighted. These homes
 The Battle on Blight | 3

are in desperate need of intervention. 7,071 properties are too decayed and require demolition.

Another 29,900 properties pose hazards to the public and need to be boarded up. The majority of

the properties considered blighted are residential, with 73,305 meeting that criteria.

Blight is a major problem in Detroit, and the next sections will analyze policies that have been

enacted by the government, market, and civic spheres of influence and what can be done moving

forward.

Federal Policies

The government sphere is the main entity for problem solving and policy making. It only

makes sense that the federal government should provided the most support in regards to funding.

In the wake of Detroits bankruptcy filing in July 2013, President Obama and members of his

administration detailed a plan in order to support the city. Through government spending, nearly

$150 million was unlocked for the effective, coordinated demolition of blighted properties,

neighborhood revitalization and redevelopment of Detroit (White House Details). $65 million in
 The Battle on Blight | 4

Community Development Block Grant Programs funds was to be unlocked for blight eradication

and housing rehabilitation. In addition, the Department of Housing and Urban Development was

to also provide $10.18 million for affordable housing. This is not the only funding Detroit has

received from the federal government. In 2010, the US Treasurys Hardest Hit Fund Program

(HHF), the largest source of funding for blight elimination, made $7.6 billion available for

foreclosure prevention in 18 states (Calnin). $107.3 million of the funding would go directly to

the city of Detroit. Established under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the HHF, as described

by Treasury.com, was created specifically to,

Aid families in states hit hard by the economic and housing market downturn. As part of

the Administrations overall strategy for restoring stability to housing markets, HHF

provides funding for state Housing Finance Agencies to develop locally-tailored

foreclosure prevention solutions in areas that have been hard hit by home price declines

and high unemployment.

Although the Hardest Hit Fund programs vary by state, they include Mortgage payment

assistance for unemployed or underemployed homeowners, principal reduction to help

homeowners get into more affordable mortgages, help for homeowners who are transitioning out

of their homes and into more affordable places of, residence, blight elimination and down

payment assistance efforts. (Treasury.gov/initiatives) In its most basic form, the Hardest Hit

Fund is a form of government spending in order to help regulate separate state economies. It

targets unemployed homeowners, as well as people in underwater mortgages.

Along with funding, there needed to be facilitators who would be in charge of physically

removing the blight. In September 2013, the Obama Administration convened the Detroit Blight

Removal Task Force to, develop a detailed implementation plan to remove every blighted
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structure and clear every blighted vacant lot in the City of Detroit as quickly as possible using an

environmentally-conscious approach (Detroit Blight Removal). Not only does the DBRTF

remove blight from affected communities in Detroit, they conduct research and collect data. The

data they helped collect through the Motor City Mapping project allows researchers to

understand the physical landscape of the city and reasons it has changed over time. Another

database known as GO DATA, the Citys web portal, allows researchers to understand where

investments are being made in Detroit. Implementing this policy lets the government gather

quantitative data needed to make evaluations on the impact of the funding on Detroits

neighborhoods.

State Policies

The government at the state level has also taken steps in order to combat blight. In

October of 2014, Gov. Snyder announced a plan that would combat blight in a number of cities,

ranging from Southeast Michigan to the Upper Peninsula. Some of these cities involved in the

plan are Detroit, Ecorse, Highland Park, River Rouge, Inkster and Hamtramck in Wayne

County, as well as Adrian, Ironwood, Jackson, Lansing, Muskegon Heights and Port Huron.

(Michigan.gov/Snyder). Not only is blight evident in Detroit, it is evident in these other

Michigan cities as well. Funding for these cities blight removal effort would actually come from

the federal government. The plan would set aside $75 million in federal funding that had been

approved by the U.S. Department of Treasury (Michigan.gov/Snyder). This project started off in

2013 when Snyder announced that the U.S. Treasury had approved a plan previous to this one

that would allow the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSDHA) access to $100

million worth of funds from the Hardest Hit Fund in order to correct blight in Detroit, Flint,

Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Pontiac (Michigan.gov/Snyder). The MSDHA is a state run
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organization responsible for providing financial and technical assistance through public and

private partnerships to create and preserve safe and decent affordable housing. With more safe

and affordable housing options in place, residents are willing to move in and stay in the

community, causing the value of the neighborhood to somewhat rise. Through July 1st of 2015, it

is expected that more than 22,000 Michigan families will receive assistance since MSHDA

launched the Step Forward Michigan program to help homeowners avoid foreclosure, stabilize

Michigans housing market and improve the states economy. The assistance will prove to be

beneficial for the eligible Michigan homeowners.

Local Policies

The city of Detroit has enacted various local ordinances to intervene and end blight.

Examples of these are land-use regulations governed by zoning ordinances enacted by local

government. These ordinances are regulators that create requirements for property owners and

businesses to follow. More specifically, ordinances No. 11-10, 1, 7-12-10 in Section 9-11-113

of Detroits code of ordinances are a set of rules defining how vacant buildings and structures

should be kept (US municicode Sec. 9-11-113). These ordinances are in cooperation with

Chapter 8.5 in the city municicode, which outlines any blight violations and actions that should

be taken. Rules under these ordinances require, but arent limited to, a non accumulation of litter,

grass and weeds to not grow beyond 8 inches, and exterior walls to be free of holes, rotting

timber, or anything that permits rain damage to the inner spaces of the building (US municicode

ch. 8.5). Violations of these rules could result in fines and legal consequences. Another example

of local ordinances are adequate public facilities ordinances (Pendall 5). These are regulations by

the local government for public facilities such as restrooms, parks, and transportation to meet a

certain quality level. By keeping public areas clean and functioning properly, blight levels can be
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brought down. The ordinances create a cleaner and safer environment for residents, and it can

attract more people to the city. They act as a support to a growing urban structure.

Local government programs have been created by Detroit to help lower blight levels. A

good example of this is the Detroit Land Bank (DLB). This organization receives abandoned and

foreclosed homes from the city and then runs them through different programs. The DLBs two

biggest programs are the Hardest Hit Fund, which contributes to the demolition of the houses,

and the Auction Program, which centers on selling vacant homes to the highest bidder. These

programs are aimed at removing blight and turning vacant land into ones that are promoting the

regrowth in city population (Hardest Hit Fund/Demolition and Auction Program). The DLB

controls tens of thousands or properties, and it has auctioned around 370 homes and destroyed

nearly 6,000 since 2014. (Policy Brief: Detroit Blight Elimination 3). In order to enforce this

program and its policies, Detroits Planning and Development Department and the Department

of Neighborhoods are charged with leading the effort to end blight. The guidelines and effect of

each program will be discussed in the market section.

The local government can also interact with private organizations through a public-civic-

private relationship to decrease blight in Detroit. As previously stated, the city has been receiving

funds from the federal government. The local government can then choose how to spend this

money, and one of the ways it does so is by giving it to local organizations such as the Detroit

Blight Authority. (Oosting). The Detroit Blight Authority would then have increased funding to

tear down more houses, or build new ones. This shows that the local government can spend

funds on private organizations to stop blight. Additionally, the local government organization,

the Detroit Land Bank, operates in cooperation with many of these privately owned not-for-

profits. For example, the DLB has donated or sold vacant homes in the Brightmoor
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neighborhood to the Motor City Blight Busters, who would then either refurbish the house to be

sold, or tear it down. This demonstrates that a program enacted by the local government can also

interact with multiple spheres of policy in order to achieve its desired purpose of ending blight in

Detroit.

All of these policies fall under one general idea, the urban containment policy. This

model is defined as limiting negative externalities by redeveloping urban structure,

preserving open space, and attracting suburbanites to the city. (Hortas-Rico 12). The zoning

ordinances and governmental organizations like the Detroit Land Bank work to redevelop urban

structure by setting higher standards for the quality of blighted homes and by clearing out old

residential neighborhoods and refurbishing them to be sold again. The adequate public facilities

ordinances preserve open space by raising the standards for public facility maintenance, making

Detroit a more livable area. These policies can help stop blight in Detroit, and it will attract

suburbanites to the city. Urban containment policies are synonymous with lowered levels of

blight, and the next section will analyze the effects of the policies and programs Detroit has

enacted and why blight is still an issue.

The current level of blight in Detroit demonstrates that the policies that have been

enacted thus far have not been effective. The urban containment policies regarding land

ordinances and adequate public facilities did not achieve their intended goals because a third of

properties in Detroit have been foreclosed since 2005. The majority of foreclosed homes arent

reclaimed, and they become vacant deteriorating structures because people are leaving the city or

nobody is coming to take up the empty homes. With 76% of the 84,000 blighted properties in

Detroit being foreclosed houses, one can conclude that blight is still prevalent due to a rise in

vacant and abandoned homes (Kurth). Additionally, government programs and public-civic-
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private relationships have been successful in decreasing blight, but they are starting to struggle

due to lack of funding. Detroit managed to demolish over 3,000 blighted homes in 2014, and

that number was predicted to increase with every passing year, potentially reaching 10,000

annually. The Detroit Land Bank auctioned off two homes per day in 2014, allowing for once

vacant homes to be filled. The government organization held 30,000 properties in 2014, with an

expected 17,000 more coming into its hands in 2015 (Gallagher). These properties can then be

revitalized by the city. However, Detroit faced a structural problem, the citys lack of money

which factors into Detroits ability to enforce policies, help government programs like the

Detroit Land Bank, and aid private groups like the Detroit Blight Authority or Detroit Blight

Busters. For example, the Detroit Land Bank already exhausted its $50 million budget on its

Hardest Hit Fund in 2014, and the city needs an additional $500 million to continue bringing

down blighted homes over the next five years through government programs and private

organization partnerships. (Gallagher)

A proposed solution to make the above local policies more effective is to increase the

number of policies that deter blight. Urban containment policies have been increasing in major
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cities throughout the past 50 years except for in the Motor city. Cities like San Francisco, Seattle,

Washington D.C., and Tampa all have over eight times as many policies as Detroit (table 1).

Table 1 City Percentage w/ Urban Containment

Policies

Detroit 5.8

Cleveland 1.9

San Francisco 47.9 Commented [1]: Whats up with this table and graph?

Tampa 40

Washington D.C. 45.8

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Seattle 46.7

The problem with blight in Detroit doesnt lie in the actual policies being enactedit lies in the

number of policies Detroit has been utilizing. The Motor City has one of the lowest percentages

of policies like land ordinances combatting the loss of urban structure than any other city

surveyed in 1994 (table 1). Furthermore, Detroit has the lowest percentage of ordinances

pertaining to the maintenance of adequate public facilities. The increase in foreclosures and

vacant homes is a result of the city not legislating enough ordinances to eliminate blight. When

more urban containment policies are put into place, the levels of blight decreases. The two are

correlated according to Hortas-Rico. There have to be more policies like land ordinances and

adequate public facility ordinances enacted in order for them to be more effective in tackling

blight.

Table 2: Urban Containment Policies in the U.S. by Select Cities

Pendall, Rolf, Jonathan Martin Cornell University, and William Fulton Solimar Research Group. "Holding
The Line: Urban Containment in The United States."Brookings Institution Center On Urban and
Metropolitan Policy.pg. 13 N.p., Aug. 2002. Web. 18 Mar. 2016.
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The Effect of NGOs

The civic sphere is one of, if not the biggest sphere in the fight on blight within Detroit.

The civic sphere relies heavily on non-paid volunteers along with donations or government

grants to achieve their goals. This makes them extremely effective at fighting blight when

funding is limited. Whereas the government could contract a private company to do the job, the

private company will require far more funding than an NGO. For example, to require a crew of

ten people to work twenty hours on a site, would require at minimum $1,630 to pay employees

for their work. Keep in mind that people doing this kind of work are not making minimum wage.

However, an NGO could come in and undertake the project at far less cost because they do not

have to pay their volunteers. One of the largest NGOs in the fight against blight is the Detroit
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Blight Busters. Also known as the Motor City Blight Busters, the Blight Busters are one of the

biggest non-profits that are working on eradicating blight from Detroit. They receive some

contracts and funding from the Detroit Blight Authority, but the majority of funding comes from

donations from either corporations, residents of Detroit, or residents of the Detroit Metropolitan

area. The current project that the Motor City Blight Busters are undergoing is the removal of

blight from the Brightmoor neighborhood of Detroit. With limited funding and only operating

once a week, this project is expected to take upwards of eight months to complete. They have

taken in funding from donations as well as $150,000 from the blight authority to complete this

project that stretches approximately one square mile (John George). This funding is all put

towards supplies and expenses for the projects and not towards buying up properties to work on.

The properties that the Blight Busters work on are mostly foreclosed properties that are owned

by the Detroit Land Bank. The DLB contracts out groups like the Blight Busters and their

volunteers to help restore the value of these foreclosed properties. With only a few members that

work for Motor City Blight Busters, they rely on volunteers to dedicate their Saturday mornings

to aiding in the fight on blight. The Blight Busters take these volunteers with little to no skill in

the trade of construction and deconstruction and lead them in the task of demolishing blighted

buildings and cleaning up blighted properties, creating nicer and safer neighborhoods to live in.

Demolishing buildings and picking up trash are not the only ways the Blight Busters have an

effect on blighted properties, they also re-paint homes, board up buildings to prevent crime and

in the interest of public health, renovate existing buildings, and even build new houses (John

George). The amount of actual labor they get and how much work they get done is surprising.

With the aid of over 12,000 volunteers contributing over 658,000 man hours, they have boarded

up 379 abandoned buildings, built 114 houses, demolished 113 houses, and cleaned up over
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1,550 dumpsters of trash (Motor City Blight Busters). Blight Busters has the ability to expand to

a tremendous size with all the community support behind it, but it is severely limited by the lack

of funding available. Of the $850 million that is required to remove blight from all residential

areas, there is approximately a $394 million dollar gap in the funding (Time To End Blight). The

government has also funded the majority of that $850 million, $498 million to be exact.

However, only $88 million dollars are accessible as of now, with the rest becoming available

over the next five years (Time To End Blight). This $88 million is a good start, but it only allows

for the demolition of 8,800 homes assuming 100% of that money is put towards demolitions.

This comes with the assumption of an average of $10,000 to demolish a structure (John George).

While this is a good start, it would hardly put a dent in the overall amount of blighted properties.

While the model and process behind the Motor City Blight Busters is solid and shows

tremendous results, it has limits--as does every non-profit--which will be discussed in a later

section.

In the grand scheme, NGOs such as the Detroit Blight Busters have experienced great

success at making the community more beautiful and driving up property values. Houses

surrounding blight removal projects have experienced anywhere from a 4.2% to 13.8% increase

in their value (Aguilar). This amounts to an increased property value of almost $410 million

across the city (Aguilar). The Detroit Blight Busters also accomplishes this at an extremely cost-

effective rate. While the average demolition project costs around $16,400, the Blight Busters

only average a cost of $10,000 for a demolition (Spangler). Granted, this comes at a price. The

Blight Busters are able to do this at a far cheaper cost due to a lack of safety standards, which is

definitely a risky choice. Volunteers are not required to be certified in any hazard prevention/

safety programs, although it does help. With carpenter gloves and safety goggles as the only
 The Battle on Blight | 15

protective equipment made available, its surprising that no has been seriously hurt.As a matter

of fact, the Detroit Blight Busters have been lucky enough to not have sustained a single serious

injury in their 28 years of operation.

Market Solutions and Analysis

With respect to ameliorating blight, three market agents/organizations have been

identified: the Detroit Neighborhood Initiative, Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans, and the

Detroit Land Bank. The effectiveness of each actor will be based on two criteria: first, whether or

not the groups actions have reduced the number of blighted/vacant properties, and second, if the

group has helped to make neighborhoods sustainable and attractive to potential homebuyers and

small businesses.

The Detroit Neighborhood Initiative is a mortgage program that is run jointly by the

Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA) and Bank of America. This

organization is attempting to reduce the number of blighted properties in Detroit by attracting

homebuyers to purchase blighted properties in the city. According to the organizations website,

the Neighborhood Initiative does this by offering mortgages that are affordable for the buyer

that is, the mortgage programs do not require a down payment, do not have fees or closing costs,

and also have interest rates that are below-average. Furthermore, the money needed for the

buyers to restore the property is already included in the mortgagefor example, if a home is

purchased under this program for $5,000 and renovations cost $55,000 a total of $60,000 will be

given out, and even if that homes assessed value after rehab is only $40,000, the rest of the loan

will still be covered (Detroit Neighborhood Initiative).

In terms of making the city more sustainable and attractive to homebuyers, the Detroit

Neighborhood Initiative has certainly been effective. The organization is directly incentivizing
 The Battle on Blight | 16

homebuyers to purchase properties in the city through the mortgage program. The program has

been quite stable itselfCEO Bruce Marks reports that the default rates for loans are among the

lowest in the country for lending programs, and that there is plenty of financial counseling and

emergency assistance included in the program to keep homebuyers afloat (Helms). This means

that the purchasers are staying in the homes, thus keeping the neighborhood itself sustainable.

Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans is another one of the market actors that is trying

to eliminate blight. Gilbert, however, is focusing more on properties in downtown Detroit, as

opposed to the neighborhood. Since Gilbert moved Quicken Loans headquarters to Detroit in

November 2010, his real estate service has bought run-down and nearly empty public buildings

in Detroit, including the Madison Theatre Building, Chase Tower and One Woodward

Skyscraper, and renovated them, turning them into office spaces for prospective businesses to

move into the downtown area (Time line par. 6-7).

According to Detroit Free Press writer John Gallagher, each purchase Gilbert made has

effectively reduced the number of blighted properties in the downtown area and his real estate

service now owns or controls, through leases, 78 buildings and offices. Furthermore, new

businesses have come in and started operating in these buildings, so considering those numbers,

Gilberts efforts have been successful. While he has spent a lot of money on purchasing

properties, his efforts have still left the neighborhoods of Detroit unaffected (Gallagher). Gilbert

has indirectly reduced the number of blighted structures in neighborhoods through the Detroit

Blight Removal Task Force, which is in charge of the demolition of blighted houses. In

September of 2013, Gilbert was named the co-chair of the Detroit Blight Removal Task Force

(Time line par. 17) and helped the organization map and digitally record the condition of every

parcel of land in Detroit through the Motor City Mapping initiative, which in turn allowed
 The Battle on Blight | 17

demolition to take place (Gallagher). Therefore, in the case of mitigating blight in

neighborhoods, Gilbert has only been slightly successful.

The Detroit Land Bank is another market sphere organization that aims to reduce blight.

The DLB has several programs that operate to help cut down on blighted properties: property

auctions, side-lot sales, and demolitions (Overview). In addition, the DLB also work with the

aforementioned Neighborhood Initiative to sell homes to buyers. The auction program has very

specific guidelines. For example, all winning bidders are required to rehabilitate the property

within nine months, and sales must be closed in a month of winning the bid. Furthermore, the

winning bidder must provide a plan of rehabilitationeither through a private contractor or, if

the bidder wants to rehab themselves, receipts for purchase of rehab materials and permits must

be presented to the DLB within a month (Auction Program). Side-lot sales have similar

guidelinesthe vacant lots are sold for only $100, and can be used as the owner pleases.

However, only residents that are adjacent to vacant lots owned by the DLB are eligible to

purchase these lots (Side Lot Sales). The DLBs demolition program is funded by the US

Department of Treasurys Hardest Hit Fundcreated in 2010, the Hardest Hit Fund provided the

DLB with $52.3 million in demolition funds. This also came with restrictionsthe money had to

be spent by April 30, 2015, or the money would be forfeited (Hardest Hit Fund/Demolition and

Auction Program). These programs are the main ways that the DLB is trying to eradicate blight.

The DLBs programs have proven to have quite an effect on reducing blight in Detroit. A

DLB report shows that the auction program has been effectivesince its creation in June of

2014, there have been 1,321 properties auctioned, with 909 sales and closings reported. Despite

this, only 626 homes have been officially soldthat is, only 626 buyers have bought the home

and followed the stipulations of the deal outlined above. However, that means there are 626
 The Battle on Blight | 18

homes that have been rehabilitated, and are now occupied, which make the DLBs auction

program successful at reducing the number of blighted properties in Detroit. Furthermore, the

program has also seen growthinitially, the DLB started auctioning one house per day for five

days a week, whereas now, the DLB is auctioning three per day for seven days, which

demonstrates an increase in demand for houses in Detroit. In other words, the auction program

has also made the neighborhoods more attractive to buyers as well (Completed Auction Sales).

Similarly, there have been 3,676 total side lots sold since the program was started in July of

2014, and thus the number of abandoned lots has also decreased (Completed Side Lot Sales).

The demolition program has also been effectivesince the original $52.3 million was awarded

to the DLB, there have been 7,987 structures that have been demolished In fact, the DLB

demolition program has been so effective that in October 2015, another $21 million was awarded

for further demolition (Spangler). Also, more than 7,600 buildings were only taken down in the

last two years, and the DLB estimates that at the current rate, 40,000 blighted properties can be

taken down in about eight years, as opposed to the original 30 years before the DLBs program

was in place (Detroit Demolition Program). Aside from removing blighted structures, the

demolition program also affects surrounding properties positivelythe Detroit Blight

Elimination Impact Study reported that with each demolition done, homes within 500 feet will

increase in value by 4.2%, which equates to a $4.27 increase in value for each dollar spent on

demolition (Estimating Home Equity Impacts). Overall, the DLBs demolition program has been

very effective as it has successfully removed blighted homes and increased attraction for buyers

by raising property values as well.

Direct Action
The best way to do your part in the fight on blight is to volunteer your time and effort to

doing the manual labor required to eradicate the blight plague. Your best option for getting
 The Battle on Blight | 19

involved would most likely be through a not-for-profit organization, and there are plenty

throughout Detroit such as Habitat for Humanity and Beautify Detroit. We dedicated our time

and effort to another not-for-profit, the Motor City Blight Busters, an organization operating out

of West Detroit near the Redford Theater. Every Saturday, the Blight Busters holds an open

volunteer time, where you can show up and fight blight-ridden properties in the Brightmoor

neighborhood. For the last 27 years, Blight Busters has used the work from countless volunteers

to achieve their goals of making Detroit a safer place to work and play.

Almost thirty years ago, a man by the name of John George became a father to a newly-

born baby girl. Where John and his family were living at the current time, there was an

abandoned house right behind them that was being used as a crackhouse. John did not want his

daughter to grow up near that kind of environment as he felt it would be a bad influence on her,

so one afternoon, John went to Home Depot and picked up a bunch of nails and 2x4s. He went

out behind his residence, to an abandoned home, and began boarding the house up. About an

hour or two into doing so, a couple of Johns neighbors came out and asked what he was doing.

His neighbors appreciated his selfless efforts and more and more began to join him in his good

work. John liked the idea of the community coming together as a whole to better their

neighborhood, so he went on to found the Motor City Blight Busters with the goal of bettering

the city of Detroit as a whole.

The projects that the Blight Busters have undergone have also had a tremendous effect

on the social capital of the Brightmoor neighborhood. Social capital is the network of

relationships between members of a community, whether they live there, work there, or both.

Throughout their history, the Blight Busters have opened up opportunities for new businesses to

move into renovated buildings at no cost to them and have created a nicer atmosphere in
 The Battle on Blight | 20

neighborhoods by adding in farms, gardens, The positivity and people that these renovations

bring in add to the social capital and make the neighborhood more community-oriented as

opposed to being very individualistic like modern day America. The members of this community

are more likely to work together to help a member of their community out when they are in need

as opposed to narcissistic communities.

However, there are some limitations that Blight Busters cannot get around. While it is

extremely cost-efficient and has great social benefits, the Blight Busters method of fighting

blight is only feasible on smaller scale projects. The Blight Busters do not have any concerns in

the terms of manpower, but they do lack the money required to undergo these projects on a wide

scale. Until Detroit pulls itself back to stability from the grasp of bankruptcy, NGOs will have to

retain focus on these smaller scale projects. The only reason that NGOs can even afford to

undergo these projects is thanks in part to the $498 million that the federal government granted

through their Hardest Hit fund. Current projections indicate that it is very possible to eradicate

blight by 2020 through the contributions of the civic sphere alongside the government sphere.

According to Gordon Soderberg, Blight Busters Director of Program Development, there are

other areas that need to be addressed for Blight Busters to act as efficient as possible. Gordon

says that the organization cannot perform a lot of heavy duty work--such as demolition--due to

the fact that most of the volunteers are not legally certified to handle heavy machinery.

Volunteers need to be properly trained and licensed, so heavy demolitions are usually limited.

Furthermore, there needs to be more funding--or at least, a more constant supply--in order to

acquire tools and machinery. Soderberg also says that climate conditions can hinder operations,

such as during the winter time, where colder temperatures and snow make it harder to move

people and equipment. Blight Busters is also limited by the number of volunteers that show up
 The Battle on Blight | 21

on a given day--that is, if less people volunteer, then not much work can be done. Even when

there are large numbers, that could still pose a problem, according to Soderberg. He states that

with such a large group of volunteers to accommodate, Blight Busters would need more money

in order to provide everyone with necessary equipment like gloves or brooms, and with few

people donating to Blight Busters the organization can actually lose a lot of money when there

are larger turnouts (Soderberg).

There are plenty of ways to fight blight, but the way we did was through volunteering to

do manual labor to clean up blighted properties. We cleaned out a burned down house set to be

demolished and the property next to it, where a large amount of illegal dumping was occurring.

Another project that we undertook was preventing a deteriorating house from becoming blight-

ridden, therefore stopping the cancer before it could even begin to spread. On top of preventing

the house from continuing to deteriorate, we renovated the house by cleaning out all the

remaining belongings of the previous owner and cleaning the house along with the garage. This

was done in an effort not only to stop blight, but also provide someone with a quality housing

situation for an affordable price. However, not all of the volunteer work we did was tearing down

houses or cleaning up blighted properties. During one volunteering session, we cleaned up the

Blight Busters headquarters and set it up for an art fundraiser they had later in the week. Doing

this was just as important as doing work on blighted properties directly, as the fundraiser helped

bring in the money that is necessary for the Motor City Blight Busters to continue operation.

People looking to volunteer can meet the Blight Busters at the Motor City Java House at 18220

Lahser Road, in Detroit at 9 am every Saturday.

Proposed Policy and Conclusion

 The Battle on Blight | 22

While the combination of federal, state, and local governments along with contributions

from the civic and market sphere have reduced the number of blighted structures in Detroit, there

is still a long ways to go. Thousands of blighted buildings still stand in Detroit, and will only

spread if action is not taken. Therefore, our group has proposed a new policy in an attempt to

further reduce blight. As previously stated, the main issue for NGOs is a lack of stable funding.

Thus, our group proposed that the government continue to fund these NGOs--such as Blight

Busters--in order for the groups to perform at an efficient level. Furthermore, programs that fall

in line with the idea of urban containment--that is, drawing people from the suburbs to urban

neighborhoods in Detroit--should be subsidized by the government (through a decrease in taxes

on potential buyers), instead of being funded by market organizations. This includes programs

like the Detroit Neighborhood Initiative. With this policy, these programs would not be

dependent on market organizations for funding anymore, which is risky as the market

organization (Bank of America, in the Detroit Neighborhood Initiatives case) itself could fail or

go under.

However, until such a policy is enacted by the government, the best and most realistic

way for everyone, Wayne State students included, is to go out to these NGOs and provide their

time to volunteer, or support the NGOs even further and donate money to them. As previously

described, the Motor City Blight Busters is very efficient with each volunteer, and each persons

effort counts. With a large, consistent, volunteer force in place, each person can go a long way in

helping eradicate the problem of blight in Detroit for good.

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 The Battle on Blight | 23

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 The Battle on Blight | 27

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