The Detroit Land Bank is wrestling with how it will deal with the hundreds — and perhaps thousands — of people living in city-owned properties it is supposed to get back on tax rolls or demolish, Christine MacDonald reports in the Detroit News.
About 1,800 of the 8,600 houses currently owned by the authority were likely occupied as of December, according to a Detroit News analysis of data from the city’s Blight Removal Task Force.
Does the city evict the occupants and resell the homes? Or does it try to strike a deal with occupants — whether they’re squatters, renters or former owners who didn’t pay their taxes? Officials hope to come up with a plan later this year.
Evicting people "is not our main interest,” said land bank attorney Kevin Simowski. “We are brainstorming right now. We are going to be considering a lot of different options. We want to have a clear, transparent and consistent policy.”
MacDonald writes the number of lived-in homes under land bank control is only going to grow. Last month, the treasurer sued the owners of 22,700 tax-foreclosed properties, mostly in Detroit, that owe taxes. The land bank is set to inherit in January the properties of owners who don’t pay.
