With a surplus of unused money, Michigan became the first state in 2013 to demolish homes using money intended to save them. The idea was that demolitions would revitalize neighborhoods by increasing the property values of surrounding houses, attracting new homeowners, and reducing crime rates. — Detroit Metro Times
Detroit's neediest homeowners were supposed to receive federal assistance to save their homes as part of the Treasury Department's seven-year-old Hardest Hit Fund. However, Michigan squandered its originally allotted $498 million by creating unnecessarily stringent requirements, according to a scathing audit issued in January by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP).
As a result, more than 80 percent of Detroiters making $30,000 or less a year were denied assistance to save their homes from tax or mortgage foreclosure. By contrast, the other 17 states with Hardest Hit Funds rejected 53 percent of homeowners making less than $30,000.
SIGTARP 2016 investigation found that demolition programs are "vulnerable to the risk of unfair competitive practices such as bid rigging, contract steering, and other closed door contracting processes" because the "Treasury conducts no oversight" and therefore cannot determine whether the cost of demolition is "necessary and reasonable."
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More related bad news... https://www.thenation.com/arti...
A bailout for developers.
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