Population. White Flight. Detroit Is Out of Bankruptcy, but Not Out of the Woods. Continue reading the main story Video DETROIT — This city formally emerged from court protection on Wednesday, bringing to a close the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history after about 17 months.
Yet the end of the bankruptcy was also the start of what may be a still more difficult, lengthy test — of Detroit leaders’ ability to chart a new, sustainable course for a city rescued from financial collapse but still struggling. “How do you deliver service in a city where the unemployment rate is double the state average, and we’ve got to rebuild a water system and a bus system and a computer system and a financial system?” Mayor Mike Duggan asked on Wednesday, adding, “It’s all going to be a challenge.” Mr. Continue reading the main story The group assembled here, heaping praise on Detroit’s progress, might once have seemed unlikely to sit in the same room. Mr. While Mr. Photo But Mr. Immigrants bypass Detroit for suburbs. A century ago, Detroit was a beacon to refugees from around the world.
Today, depopulated and emerging from bankruptcy, re-lighting that welcoming torch could only benefit the city. President Barack Obama's executive order halting some deportations may be controversial everywhere, but it's less relevant in Detroit, with its small immigrant population, legal and otherwise. In fact, there's wide consensus that boosting Detroit's immigrant population would provide a lever for the city's economic growth.
Both Gov. Rick Snyder — who touts his administration as the nation's most immigrant friendly — and Mayor Mike Duggan celebrate the idea of recruiting new Americans below Eight Mile. The welcoming has begun. So far, though, the needle is barely moving. Outside the city borders, though, a growing, vibrant foreign-born population thrives in Oakland, Wayne and Macomb counties. "The reality is that the region does really well with immigrants," Tobocman said. Lberman@detroitnews.com. In Detroit, the unconventional could revive a housing market. For Jazley Trouser, a 25-year-old Home Depot worker who has endured her share of hard times, the opportunity to become a homeowner was too good to pass up.
With a $1,000 bid on the city's online auction site, Trouser bought a four-bedroom Tudor plundered by thieves. A $25,000 grant from a community bank covered her renovation costs. Now she owns the 1929 home, restored to its former glory, mortgage free. "I love that this is my home," Trouser said. "I'm creating a home for myself with longevity. " Wooing atypical buyers such as Trouser is one component of a bold new experiment designed to address a six-decades-long exodus of 1 million people that left this once-mighty city with vast swaths of decaying houses and weed-choked lots. No American city the size of Detroit has ever endured such a prolonged structural decline of its housing stock. Civic and business leaders are targeting eight neighborhoods that they determined have the best chance of turning around.
"I was discouraged," she said.