Detroit's Black middle class recovery is vital, says policy group

DETROIT (FOX 2) - Detroit’s recovery is increasingly being measured not just by cranes downtown, but by what’s happening in neighborhoods across the city.

Big picture view:

Tonight we're looking at the city’s long-term goal of rebuilding a strong middle class, what's working and what do we need to do?

New Mayor Mary Sheffield was just sworn in and is looking to build on Detroit's success, but there are also plenty of challenges.

Detroit Future City is a think tank which found that Detroit has historically had fewer middle-income households than other similar cities across the country.

It found that many residents are either locked out of middle-class pathways or at risk of slipping out due to housing instability, limited higher-wage job opportunities, and uneven neighborhood conditions.

Detroit Future City says it uses research, and long-term planning to try to guide equitable growth, land use and economic development across the city.

In its 2030 plan and recent reports, DFC argues that Detroit’s future hinges on growing and stabilizing a middle class, particularly a Black middle class rooted in neighborhoods and home ownership — rather than relying solely on downtown or market-driven development.

City of Detroit land data illustrates how conditions have shifted toward that strategy.

In 2014, the Detroit Land Bank Authority owned roughly 47,000 abandoned homes.  Today, that number has fallen to about 900 properties.

Of those remaining homes, only about 240 are slated for demolition, with the rest expected to be sold for renovation.

What do families in the neighborhoods think about the progress? Some feel positively, but not everyone feels this way.

"The progress in this community has been pretty fair as far as residents," said resident Dwight Revel, Jr. "As far as city work, they haven’t been doing anything. I’ve seen houses set on fire."

Hilary Golston, FOX 2: "What would you like to see Mary Sheffield do first?"

"Build a recreational center and build some schools in my neighborhood," he said.

Together the data might suggest Detroit is transitioning from a period of large-scale abandonment to a more deliberate phase of recovery, where land reuse, housing stability, and workforce-connected development are increasingly central to building a durable middle class.