Sonja Bonnett, one of DJC’s Community Legal Workers/Photo: Ken Coleman
“From 2011 to 2015, about 100,000 properties were foreclosed on for unpaid property taxes, however. The number still represented about 25 percent of properties in town. In 2011, Business Insider ran a feature on homes you could buy in Detroit for just $100.
Bonnett and her colleagues the the Detroit Justice Center (DJC), a nonprofit law firm focused on economic opportunity and justice system reforms, believe that too many people remain at risk for losing their homes.
More than five years after the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history, Detroit has been rebranded as “the comeback city.” Swanky coffee houses and restaurants, shiny dwellings and artificial beaches equipped with volleyball nets and chaise lounge chairs are spouting downtown and along the riverfront.
Corporations and billionaires armed with generous local and state tax breaks are investing in trendy neighborhoods located just outside of downtown, like Corktown and Midtown. Nonetheless, the DJC argues that far too many individuals and families across the city still need help.”