the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Jan 29, 2024
In early January there was a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the area of Detroit known as Corktown for a newly-constructed seven story, 188-unit building along with seven new three-story town homes. It’s known as “Perennial Corktown.” At the ribbon-cutting event, the mayor and Detroit City Council president praised the fact that 10% of the apartment building, about 19 units, would be earmarked for affordable housing. In 2021, developers were approved for nearly 6 million in state brownfield tax credits and a Commercial Rehabilitation Tax Act Abatement of 10.6 million by the city of Detroit.
Meanwhile, the asking prices for rents start at $1,560 a month for the studios, “about $2,000” for one bedroom units and in the mid-$3000s for two bedrooms. The rents for the townhomes START at $7,520 a month.
About 19 affordable housing units in the 188-unit building—as if that would make a dent in the growing problem of people being priced out of their existing apartments, whose rents are going sky-high, competing with “market prices.” As if another luxury housing development subsidized by tax breaks and sweetheart land deals to billionaires in Detroit has anything to do with the vast majority of the city’s population that already struggles with homelessness, overcrowding, and overpaying for substandard housing.