Duggan talks affordable housing, neighborhood investment, street sweepers

In Tuesday night’s State of the City address, Mayor Mike Duggan mentioned some accomplishments this past year, but focused on what’s to come in the future, like a campaign checklist as he runs for reelection. A few key ideas should be of interest to Curbed readers.

One is the neighborhood initiatives we’ve talked about quite a bit. $30 million is being invested into Live6, Southwest, and West Village in order to increase retail, housing, and community spaces. This all adds to the 20-minute neighborhood plan he proposed last spring. He discussed the Fitzgerald investments near Livernois, increasing retail, and adding green spaces to connect the colleges. He also alluded to row houses that will be renovated near Clark Park in Southwest. In West Village, he mentioned the Coe Development, which is underway, and more residential on Kercheval.

Also on the agenda for the SOTC was an affordable housing initiative currently being discussed in city council. This will require developers who are building new residential and receiving city assistance to designate a certain amount of units as affordable housing. This is meant to address the rising rents in downtown and Midtown, which seem unaffordable to many.

According to the Free Press, this means,

“As it is now, Duggan's administration typically requires developments involving tax breaks to designate 20% of new units as affordable — meaning rent is set aside for residents who earn 80% of the city's average median income, which equates to about $38,000.

Sheffield’s ordinance could require the following set-asides: 10% of units for those earning 80% of average median income; 5% for those earning 60% of the average median income; and another 5% for people earning 50% of the average median income.”

And get ready for some clean streets, Detroit. Street sweepers are on the way!

He ended the address with something many can relate to: car insurance. Since Detroit can’t do anything at the city level, the state could address the whole no-fault issue this year. And if it passes, what a glorious day for all of us.

Someone’s in favor of this idea.