The top priority of Detroit’s new $250 million blight removal program — the preservation and rehabilitation of 8,000 vacant homes — will receive just $73 million, less than one-third of the total funding, city spending documents show.
The reduction in money for home rehabilitation work is almost a 20% drop from what was originally outlined. And that cut is raising new concerns about a "bait-and-switch" with voters who approved in November funding for the program, known as Proposal N.
“One of the big sells on Proposal N was the rehab-preservation component and it’s now being reduced by close to 20%,” City Planning Commissioner Damion Ellis said at a Jan. 21 commission meeting. “I just think there’s going to be issue with a bait-and-switch type of scenario, where people really, you know, went boots-on-ground, front-facing community members, talking about a program and now … we’ve already reduced the rehab budget by 20%. So that doesn’t sit well with me.”