Detroit Offers Historic Houses to Cops
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Feb. 23, 2011
If you're a Detroit police officer, you can buy a foreclosed house in the city with a down payment of $1,000.
Earlier this month, Detroit Mayor Dave Bing announced the new program, dubbed Project 14 after police code 14, which indicates a "return to normal operations." With the tagline "Live where you protect and serve," the program "takes two challenges facing Detroit—public safety and vacant homes—and turns them into an opportunity for neighborhood revitalization," according to a Feb. 7 press release.
During program's pilot phase, police officers can apply to buy houses located in two historic neighborhoods: Boston-Edison and East English Village. Now vacant, the houses are owned by the Detroit Land Bank Authority, which plans to use Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds to renovate the historic structures. The bank promises "high quality renovation work and restoration of grand architectural features."
Because Boston-Edison is a National Register-listed historic district and East English Village is eligible for the same status, any exterior work on the houses must be approved by the city's historic district commission, according to Karen Nagher, executive director of Preservation Wayne, Detroit’s nonprofit preservation organization.
"I think it's a great program," Nagher says. "I'm happy there are going to be funds available to do sensitive restorations."
Many land banks and Michigan cities have used federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program money to demolish blighted properties, according to Nancy Finegood, executive director of the Michigan Historic Preservation Network. That's starting to change, however.
"We are thrilled that some [places], like Ingham County and Saginaw, have been working with us and the State Historic Preservation Office to utilize those funds for proper rehabilitation. We are pleased to see Detroit join the ranks," Finegood says. "This will bring a much-needed new energy to these historic neighborhoods."
For more photos, stories, and tips, subscribe to the print edition of Preservation magazine.
Subscribe to the Today's News RSS feed
Comments
Submitted by Big HB at: March 30, 2011
I think this is a wonderful win-win plan. Homes such as those cannot ever be recreated with todays' materials, and they are beautifully landscaped (from the photo) and ready for family / community living. Congrads to whoever came up with this plan. One question... has the idea of a "police neighborhod" brought up and question of gang violence towards the new owners? Sort of "one stop elimination" by thigs...