Detroit Land Bank demolishes 10,000 abandoned home

The city of Detroit celebrated its 10,000th demolition for its blighted homes project, a report by the Detroit Metro Times says. Demolition crews began tearing down a home on Marlowe Street in the city early morning on Tuesday, July 19.

 

The city’s Mayor Mike Duggan posted videos on Facebook of the demolition to celebrate the occasion, the report says.

The Detroit Land Bank, who has led the demolition of blighted and abandoned homes using the state’s Hardest Hit Fund in the last two years, demolished 5,000 homes in 2016 and plans to tear down 6,000 more in 2017.
 

"Every time one of these houses goes down, we raise the quality of life for everybody else in the neighborhood. Look here, the beautiful houses, the families across the street, these are folks who stayed in this city, paid their taxes, kept their houses up and had to watch the blight spread," Mayor Duggan said in the report. "We're finally starting to fight it effectively."