Forbes has an article about a home builder who is reducing blight in Detroit by raising money to demolish homes and other abandoned structures. However, the article gives some clues about why those neighborhoods are blighted in the first place.
Abandoned home in Detroit.
As everyone knows, large swaths of Detroit are in a blighted condition, with close to 80,000 abandoned homes and other structures as the city has lost a quarter of its population in the last decade alone. In 2010, the city set a goal of trying to remove 10,000 homes in three years, but met only half this goal at a cost of $72 million, or close to $15,000 per home.
Bill Pulte, whose family once owned (but now owns only 10 percent of) Pulte homes, decided to see if he could do better. He started a non-profit group called the Detroit Blight Authority, which has raised $750,000 to removed abandoned buildings.
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“The red tape and expense are enough to discourage anyone,” says Forbes. “First, you must prove ownership or that the owner has agreed to the demolition. Hiring a contractor is $5,000. Surveying and asbestos abatement is another $1,500. Then you must show documentation that utilities are disconnected–another $1,300. Administrative costs? $750. Add it up and you’re talking $8,500 to $10,000 to tear down a house.”
So costs to private blight-remover are just two-thirds of costs to the city. But close to half those costs are probably unnecessary. Instead of getting in the way, the city should streamline demolition costs and far more blight could be removed.
I’ve sometimes fantasized that we simply give blighted neighborhoods to residents of developing nations to salvage. They probably could turn a profit by recycling most of the materials in the homes and other structures. But our building codes often include many barriers to the use of recycled materials.
Until the recent financial meltdown, visitors to Las Vegas were not only treated to 24-hour entertainment, they could witness some of the most massive–and totally unsubsidized–urban renewal in the country. Las Vegas has some of the lowest permitting, demolition, and construction costs in the country, so developers eagerly tore down old casinos and hotels and replaced them with new, glitzier models.
The real problem with blight is usually that government bureaucracy gets in the way of fixing it, and the real solution is to get out of the way.
“So costs to private blight-remover are just two-thirds of costs to the city. But close to half those costs are probably unnecessary.”
Can you provide a breakdown on those costs you feel are unnecessary? Do you think asbestos abatement is unnecessary?
Thanks in advance.
The Antiplanner admits that he sometimes fantasized that we simply give blighted neighborhoods to residents of developing nations to salvage. Me too, except that my fantasy takes it a step or two further. Just as governments can create free trade zones, ours would create a Free People Zone around those 80,000 blighted homes, with the $15,000 earmarked to tear down the homes considered a repayable loan to be used by the new residents to fix up the homes and live. I’m sure many people in ‘darker’ countries where they don’t just have dirt floors, but are scourged with natural and man-created evils would jump at the chance to get a new life and a ‘new’ home. My fantasy would also have voluntary servitude in which people could invest in these individuals and earn some sort of return. You want to see Detroit flourish? Try that.
I’m not sure I get what the point this blog post. Is the Anti Planner actually claiming that the cost of razing a house in Detroit is the cause of the blight? Something else? I’m not sure.
Mr. O’Toole seems to be implying that without an abandoned structure there is no blight. Regardless of their being a structure in place, abandoned or not, the area can is still blighted. There are issues abandoned buildings lead to. A few examples are entertainingly illustrated in the first couple episodes of AMC’s Low Winter Sun.
I don’t think I get the point of this post because it’s a relatively minor point. The current process does lower some activity most people wouldn’t want occurring in their neighborhood. It does help ensure a proper title is in place for possible for sale along with raising the property value by removing the structure.
Nevertheless, whether removing the average abandoned home in Detroit costs $4k or $14k, it doesn’t change the larger issues the city as a whole is facing. Detroit has the highest taxes in the state. Crime is more than just rampant while city services are nearly non existent. It has a city government which not only suffers from some corruption ( a couple polls rank it worst in US, btw ) but, worse, it’s highly bureaucratic and highly regulated. That it took this long to file for bankruptcy is a small miracle as the city’s debt had attained junk bond status before Bill Clinton was in the White House.
Even if one were to streamline the demolition process, what’s the use? Other than a couple neighborhoods, nothing is coming back anytime soon. Maybe some would liken it to cleaning a wound to reduce infection. That’s a fair analogy. But to me it seems more like cleaning the wound while it’s still submerged in a cesspool.
I appreciate the hands-off approach, really. Some blog masters are too micromanaging. However, when asking a question, a reply would be nice. I guess silence speaks volumes.