feature – Urban Praxis

On Speculation and Organizing

“In Detroit, land contracts outpace all other types of lending instruments for housing. … These instruments are incredibly flexible and allow for the possiblity of homeownership, but that flexibility also offers a lot of opportunity for exploitation.” In late December, Urban Praxis’ Josh Akers was the guest on Wade’s World, a weekly broadcast on KABFContinue reading “On Speculation and Organizing”

Speculation and the City “It’s not a bug, it’s a feature.”

Property speculators own nearly 20 percent of all property in Detroit. The parcels caught up in this web of speculation are spread across the city and come in a variety of forms. At their worst these owners are buying and selling houses that rapidly decline into vacant and abandoned shells.