Mayor Mike Duggan, Land Bank Officials Give Deeds to Detroit Residents through Buy Back Program
Industry Update
August 15, 2023
Source: Detroit Free Press
Residents who have been living in Detroit Land Bank Authority-owned homes were given their deeds on Tuesday in a formal event at the Johnson Recreation Center.
Mayor Mike Duggan and Land Bank CEO Tammy Daniels announced that a total of 135 Detroiters are to receive their deeds after completing homeownership and financial management courses through the latest round of the Occupied Buy Back program. The Land Bank is responsible for selling vacant homes and side lots.
“We are entering uncharted territory. The success of this program is unprecedented,” Daniels said.
The program launched in 2016 and has given 1,119 Detroiters the deed to their home. The aim is to provide housing for those living in Land Bank homes, many of whom lost them to foreclosure or were victims of real estate or landlord fraud.
“Over the years, you’ve heard the Land Bank get criticized for a lot of things. They got a new director now, Tammy Daniels, and the Land Bank doesn’t demolish homes anymore. What they do is take the land they have and turn it back to Detroiters in a reasonable way,” Duggan said. “Instead of 1,000 vacant houses in the city by pushing people out who lost to foreclosure, we’ve got 1,000 homeowners … since we started the Buy Back Program.”
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