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Detroit's $20 Million Demolition Plan

Posted by: Nate Berg

25 February 2010 - 9:00am

The city of Detroit has enough money to tear down between one-quarter and one-third of the city's 10,000 abandoned houses.

"About $14 million in federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program money and about $6 million from other funds will be used to demolish the homes, Karla Henderson, director of Detroit’s Buildings & Safety Engineering Department, told City Council this morning. It costs the city about $10,000 to demolish each single-family home.

'A lot of it comes down to funding,' Henderson said."

In addition to federal and local money, officials are also hoping to collect demolition money from the owners of the abandoned properties.

Full Story: Detroit can afford to tear down at least 2,500 homes, council is told
Source: The Detroit Free Press, February 22, 2010
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Deconstruction is better than demolition

Submitted by SteveDunne on Thu, 02/25/2010 - 12:40.

$10,000 to demolish one house??

Why not deconstruct the houses for a fraction of that figure and salvage and reuse the materials? This is not a new concept.

It really is a no brainer to

Submitted by JHagen on Fri, 02/26/2010 - 08:09.

It really is a no brainer to de-construct vs. bulldoze and truck it all to a landfill.

They could be creating low-skill jobs that cannot be offshored. These won't lure the creative class to Detroit, but these jobs could be the first rung on the employment ladder for 100's or 1000's of existing residents.

Maybe this is why Detroit is failing.

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“
The decision to abandon a property is a symptom of the loss of confidence. And while abandonment certainly affects confidence among surrounding homeowners, the most important question to answer is not "how do we deal with abandoned properties?" but "what is the most cost-effective way to restore market confidence, and how do abandoned properties fit into that picture?"
”