Track blighted homes in Detroit online
Detroit (WJBK) - Fox 2 getting the first look at a new website which shows Detroiters not just where the blighted homes sit in their neighborhoods - they know that.
This new site shows you whether the house is being slated for the wrecking ball or if there's cash set aside to do the work. It’s an online progress report on the demolition program.
"A lot of these houses you don't know if they are bought sold or anything and they might do some things they don't have any business doing," Detroiter Morgan Richardson said.
Residents concerned about homes in their neighborhood no longer have to go to city hall.
Bryan Farkas with the building authority in Detroit helped launch this program. He says it's the most transparent way for people who live in the neighborhoods to track progress.
"Basically it shows a group of data from the land bank that sells houses, building authority that's demolishing houses, and the building department that's doing the building permits. We want the residents to see what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen in their area," Farkas said.
To explain the system the city decided to use color coding, green yellow, and red. Green means the house has been taken down already, Yellow means the home is contracted to be demolished and red means money has been earmarked and the home will eventually come down.
A closer look at the numbers behind those colors.
The green dots on the map pointing at completed projects, so far roughly 12,000 have been brought down. There are 850 contracted homes in yellow on the chopping block. And there are 3,000 in the red that should begin the process of coming down within a year.
"As the contractor updates our portal the planned knock down date will change for them, they'll see the process move just like we will in our data system," Farkas said.
"We will let them know what the progress of the neighborhood is going to go through in the near future and for the parents that have concerns about the houses they'll know if it will be there or if it will be demolished and also people who are moving into the neighborhoods," Resident Rejenka Gray said.
If there's a house in your neighborhood that says it’s contracted but it hasn't come down after months have passed, go to the website detroitmi.gov/demolition check out where the houses are on that list, and if you're not seeing any progress the city says they'll put pressure on the contractors as well.