Southeast Mich. sees more demolitions than new home construction

The Detroit News is reporting today that the counties of southeast Michigan, including Oakland, Macomb, Wayne and Livingston, have issued more demolition permits than permits for new home construction. From the article:

Demolitions, particularly the dismantling of vacant, unsafe and aging housing stock, have exploded. The region tore down 4,154 housing units in 2008, with 268 demolitions in Oakland County, 204 in Macomb County and 35 in Livingston County, according to SEMCOG, which tracks the permits.

Most demolitions, by far, occurred in Wayne County, with 3,518, of which Detroit accounted for 3,159 — nearly six times more than the number of building permits authorized in the city. Coupled with the 562 home construction building permits, Detroit lost more than 2,500 housing units last year.

Some say the move to tear down buildings is a good thing for the struggling Detroit area.

“A lot of times, homes that are abandoned or have no one living in them tend to breed crime,” [George Jackson, president of the Detroit Economic Growth Corp.] said. “Citizens want to see these homes demolished. That housing stock, at this point, is extremely old … and it’s not like we have a booming population. The city has to (downsize) to fit its population.”
Detroit City Council member Sheila Cockrel said $47 million has been made available to the city from a neighborhood stabilization program through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. A “substantial” portion will go toward demolition in a continued effort to raze such nuisance homes.

“I am an advocate for tearing down the cancer,” said Cockrel, a member of the council’s public health and safety standing committee. “It is a threat to safety, particularly to our children. It’s a threat to the health of our community.
“It is depressing to live with.”

The article notes that experts expect to see a turn around in the credit crunch which is stalling new building by 2011.