Squatters are occupying as many as 4,300 of the 30,000 Detroit properties owned by the city's Land Bank Authority, according to a newspaper's investigation.
The Detroit Land Bank has turned only a fraction of occupants into homeowners through its two initiatives, the Detroit Free Press reported. The newspaper's analysis also found that the land bank treats squatters inconsistently and doesn't have the money to maintain and secure all of its residential structures.
Detroit Land Bank has taken in thousands of foreclosed properties, demolished blighted houses and auctioned off other residential structures since Mayor Mike Duggan took office in 2014.
Land Bank Chair Erica Ward Gerson estimated its squatter population to be between 3,400 and 4,300, though she said the authority isn't responsible for its occupants. The land bank doesn't have a policy on whether to allow people to live in its properties, she said.
"They're not renters," Gerson said. "They're occupying homes that they don't own."
From 2014 through May, the authority has filed a total of 82 eviction notices. Some have criticized the land bank for deciding how to treat squatters based on the property's location. The land bank has been accused of removing squatters near neighborhoods that can attract development or homes that can attract buyers, while forgotten corners of the city are left alone.
But the authority denied the allegations. The land bank said it removes occupants for two reasons: illegal activity or when the occupant doesn't qualify for the buyback program.
U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee said Detroit's land bank must find a new way for its occupants to reside in their houses legally or vacate them from the premises "because the gray area is really dangerous and the properties often are not up to code for occupants to live in them."
"Without legal occupancy, they can't get water, they can't get utilities," Kildee said. "What you end up with then is the most dangerous situation — people hijacking neighborhood utilities, especially in the winter, which is dangerous to occupants and the neighborhood."
The newspaper spoke with a man who identified himself as Reginald at a Land Bank-owned house near the Grand River on the city's west side. Reginald said he was watching over the property for a friend.
He doesn't have electricity or water, so he fills juice bottles with water at a friend's house and keeps kerosene lamps.
"It's a crime every day around here," Reginald said. "It's a bad neighborhood."
