For people getting evicted from their rental units -- and there are many -- Detroit's often talked-about comeback must seem like a fairy tale.
The Detroit News' Christine MacDonald digs into the problem of evictions and it's stunning:
Families in one out of five Detroit rentals face eviction every year, a persistent churn that uproots thousands, destabilizes neighborhoods and schools and even threatens the health and safety of residents, a Detroit News investigation has found.
The News analyzed nearly 285,000 eviction cases since 2009 — the first time this data has ever been examined — and found, for example, that in 2015 alone, the vast majority of landlords who took their renters to court were themselves operating illegally.
City ordinance requires that all rentals be registered, livable and inspected yearly, but most landlords have operated without that scrutiny for more than a decade.
Lax city enforcement has contributed to an eviction cycle where many tenants live in dangerous and unfit homes, according to interviews with city officials, housing nonprofits, renters and landlords.
