DTWNews

A foreclosure crisis is on the brink in Detroit and city residents are looking for a solution.

Detroit has had foreclosure problems for over a decade and it doesn’t look like it’s getting any better. Detroit’s foreclosure issues are linked to the national crisis that hit the U.S. thanks to risky bank loans and missed payments.

“Massive, shocking, unbelievable, unprecedented, destructive,” said Jerry Paffendorf, CEO of Loveland Technologies, a real estate data company. Paffendorf was referring to Detroit’s foreclosure crisis and referenced the Wayne County Tax Auction that sold 13,712 homes in the city.

In 2013, one out of every 96 homes reported a foreclosure filing. That number is closer to one out of 200 homes now and is even higher in some areas, like Detroit, where one out of every three homes has been foreclosed in the last decade.

According to Model D, the Storehouse of Hope Community Land Trust plans on holding onto the land as it re-sells the actual house, rather than selling the entire property back to former homeowners.

This model of property selling is called a “land trust,” and is designed to keep a property in the possession of community residents.

“The person can sell the house, deed the house to a family member, they can do all the things that a typical owner does but they don’t control the land,” said Rev. Joan Ross, a member of Detroit’s Land Trust Coalition. “The grounding is in place to prevent speculators from taking the land, taking the houses, and just forcing us out.”

Another plan to stop the foreclosure crisis is through public demand of federal assistance. In late September, a public meeting was held that demanded federal Helping Hardest Hit Funds be used to stop foreclosures related to evictions and water shutoffs.

Workers World reports that 14,000 families had their water shut off in April with 11,000 more scheduled for termination. Thousands more families are expected to face eviction this October.