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Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents

theguardian.com

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Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents

#3

If there was anything worth starting a KickStarter for, it would be to raise money to buy as many of these homes as possible, and give the deeds outright to the people who already live there. That'd be a really great thing.

According to that article a lot of these people already have paid off the mortgage and have the deeds to the house. It's that they can't keep up with the taxes. If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year? This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.

Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents

#4

If there was anything worth starting a KickStarter for, it would be to raise money to buy as many of these homes as possible, and give the deeds outright to the people who already live there. That'd be a really great thing.

Why? These houses are getting foreclosured due to owed taxes. If they got the deed back, they'd just get foreclosured again to pay the rest, no?

Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents

#5

If there was anything worth starting a KickStarter for, it would be to raise money to buy as many of these homes as possible, and give the deeds outright to the people who already live there. That'd be a really great thing.

According to that article a lot of these people already have paid off the mortgage and have the deeds to the house. It's that they can't keep up with the taxes. If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year? This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.

One of the first times I've seen that property tax really does read like serfdom.

Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents

#6

If there was anything worth starting a KickStarter for, it would be to raise money to buy as many of these homes as possible, and give the deeds outright to the people who already live there. That'd be a really great thing.

According to that article a lot of these people already have paid off the mortgage and have the deeds to the house. It's that they can't keep up with the taxes. If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year? This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.

This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.

There is, the article points it out:

Owners can buy their homes back with debts cleared at auction for $500 as a solution of last resort.

The problem doesn't seem to be the lack of a solution, but knowledge that it exists and what they have to do to benefit from it.

Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents

#7

If there was anything worth starting a KickStarter for, it would be to raise money to buy as many of these homes as possible, and give the deeds outright to the people who already live there. That'd be a really great thing.

Well my friend raised over $6,000 on IndieGoGo [1] to buy homes at the foreclosure auctions to give to the families who live in them. There's a potluck tomorrow with all the families and funders to celebrate the success.

I could see many more of this type of effort in Detroit being successful.

[1] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-tricycle-collective

Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents

#8
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

According to that article a lot of these people already have paid off the mortgage and have the deeds to the house. It's that they can't keep up with the taxes. If you raised money to pay their back taxes, what would they do the following year? This kind of stuff really is sad, there has to be some solution to not kicking people that have lived in these houses for 30+ years because they can't afford the taxes.

One of the first times I've seen that property tax really does read like serfdom.

Property tax is really onerous for those who own their houses but fall on hard times. Its implementation can be terribly unfair, because it essentially says that you don't really own all of your property. You own most of it, but if you don't kick that little bit up every year, then you're out on your duff and what you get back is subject to the whims of the auction bidders.

That's a troubling implication for me. I'm a big fan of first sale doctrine. If you bought it, it should be yours. I'm deeply uncomfortable with the notion that you must always pay rent to the government on something you ostensibly own, or you get the boot.

There are so many ways this could be addressed. Property taxes could be eliminated and other taxes raised for a revenue neutral solution. Or below a certain property value, the tax levied could be zero. Lots of ways to fix this.

Re: Detroit gentrifiers face daunting task buying $500 homes evicting poor residents

#9
post #7

If there was anything worth starting a KickStarter for, it would be to raise money to buy as many of these homes as possible, and give the deeds outright to the people who already live there. That'd be a really great thing.

Well my friend raised over $6,000 on IndieGoGo [1] to buy homes at the foreclosure auctions to give to the families who live in them. There's a potluck tomorrow with all the families and funders to celebrate the success. I could see many more of this type of effort in Detroit being successful. [1] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-tricycle-collective

This is wonderful.

I would invest in something that took it a step further; turn it into self-sustaining non-profit or co-op that's focused on keeping people in their homes and able to repay the costs of repurchasing them.

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