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14

August 17 • 2017

their housing values
go up at a good clip.
Arlene Frank,
executive direc-
tor of the Isaac
Agree Downtown
Synagogue, has lived
in Detroit all her life,
Arlene Frank
moving from north-
central to Lafayette
Park 31 years ago
with her husband.
Frank said she moved to the
“diverse and affordable” neighbor-
hood when she and her husband were
expecting their first child. Now, that
child is grown and is living in his own
home on the east side.
“I was warned I’d never see a return
on my investment buying a home in
Detroit, that the city would stagnate
or go downhill even more,” Frank said.
“In fact, since 1986, the amount my
home has increased in purchase price
is over 15 percent. The largest jump in
price has been in the past five years.
“While that’s great for someone
who moved in years ago and is look-
ing to move out while the real estate
market is high, it has an effect on
the neighborhood in terms of who
can now afford to purchase a co-op
townhouse or courthouse in our lovely
historic neighborhood.”

jn

Sometimes, for better or for worse,
the renovations to improve an apart-
ment building happen right around
the renters.
When Joel Batterman, 29, who is
earning a Ph.D. in
urban planning
at the University
of Michigan, first
moved to Detroit
in 2012, he rented
a three-bedroom
house in the New
Joel Batterman
Center neighbor-
hood behind the
Max Fisher building
with three other roommates for a total
of $950 a month.
A year ago, he and his then-fiancée

moved into a two-bedroom apart-
ment in the Linwood area at $700
with hopes to save up and buy a home
in Detroit within the year. The build-
ing was “not in great shape,” said
Batterman, but the month-to-month
lease was affordable and the location
convenient for commuting.
Then, a foreign investment firm
purchased the building. Without
notice and, according to Batterman,
without the proper building permits,
it began to gut the building while ten-
ants payed the same rental rate.
“The water got shut off without
notice, and there was debris and dust,
which was probably tainted with
lead paint,” Batterman said. “You had
families with young children living
in the building and they were getting
exposed to lead paint. We tried to
reach the city’s building commission,
but with little success.”
Batterman said tenants organized
and asked for a 50 percent reduction
in rent but only received 10 percent
off. With that, Batterman and his new
wife moved out. They are now living
month to month staying with friends
until they find a more permanent
housing situation.
Batterman said he knows he will
be OK in the end, but he is con-
cerned about the families and many
Detroiters like them who are enduring
similar situations because they cannot
afford to live anywhere else.
Batterman said in Detroit, middle-
to low-income renters get the short
end of the stick and solutions need to
be crafted. One of them, he suggests, is
the creation of an affordable housing
trust fund, something that has been
proposed by the United Community
Housing Coalition of Detroit, a non-
profit organization that provides
housing assistance to Detroit’s low-
income residents.
“I know there are others who can-
not withstand further rent increases,”
said Batterman. “Still, we are com-
mitted to [buying] in the city because
we believe that by living here, we can
better work for racial and economic
justice in Detroit.” •

