As Developers Gentrify Detroit, Evictions Increase [View all]

http://www.africanglobe.net/headlines/developers-gentrify-detroit-evictions-increase/

Meanwhile, hundreds of low-income and elderly residents who have lived in the area for decades have been given eviction notices. This includes residents of the Henry Street apartments in the Cass Corridor area, who have been ordered to leave by the end of the month. Senior citizens at the Griswold Apartments have been told to move by next year, and other area residents fear the same fate.

Reporters spoke with residents at the Griswold Apartments. Lorna, a retired electrician at General Motors, said that after living there for five-and-a-half years, she and other residents were being given until March to clear out. “People are getting scared and leaving the apartments,” she said. “The people here do not know where to get resources, and there’s all this pressure so they get scared and leave. We have people living here for 20 years.” She told us most tenants have little information and don’t know where they will go. The owners are neglecting to keep the place up now that the residents will all be leaving.

Another tenant said: “I’m not going to move anywhere in Detroit; it’s not safe. Gilbert is buying up downtown, its prime real estate. No one will be able to afford the new prices,” he continued, adding that rent is now $800 a month, and he expects it to go up to $2000.

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The Griswold residents was a part of a plan by bankers and investors to gentrify areas of Detroit and force poor residents out. Nearby Pontiac, Michigan was a model for Kevyn Orr, having been picked to the bone under an emergency manager since 2009. “There, the city workforce has been reduced from 600 employees down to 50. The city no longer issues building permits, provides water and sewage services, EMS service, trash pickup, cemetery maintenance or animal control. The police and fire departments were also disbanded, and residents now have to rely on the county, and neighboring cities’ police and fire service. This gives a taste of what Orr has in store for Detroit,” he said.

More at the link.)