Will City Council Demand More Control Over Land Bank? Why We Should Care.
Since its formation in 2008, the Detroit Land Bank Authority has had an outsized influence on neighborhoods like Morningside, where around 70 DLBA-owned houses account for many of our blighted properties. As a quasi-public agency, the Land Bank functions according to a Memorandum of Understanding with the City Council. The MOU determines how the DLBA is structured and operates. Although the contract expired last December, the DLBA and Council are still trying to hash out a new agreement. In the meantime, they’re operating “in good faith” under the terms of the old one, according to the DLBA.
The Council’s Planning and Economic Development Committee will be discussing possible revisions to the contract at their next public meeting on Thursday, January 16 at 10am. We hope Morningside residents will attend. If there’s a DLBA property near you that is blighted or if you have general concerns about how the Land Bank is operating, this is a good time to speak up during public comment, either in person, on the 13th floor of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center, 2 Woodward Ave, or on Zoom at https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84572753456
Let’s take a closer look at the DLBA Board of Directors, which sets policies and procedures. Erica Ward Gerson seemed like an unlikely person to chair the Board when she was appointed by Mayor Duggan in 2014. She had worked for 30 years as a finance and corporate lawyer for the prestigious law firm Skadden Arps but had no housing policy experience or on-the-ground knowledge of Detroit’s neighborhoods and residents. Erica Gerson is a Bloomfield Hills resident who worked with Duggan when she was board chair of Children’s Hospital of Michigan (CHM) and he ran the Detroit Medical Center. She also donated to and managed his first mayoral campaign.
According to a former insider who spoke on condition of anonymity, Erica Gerson runs the DLBA “with an iron fist.” Because she and the mayor set the board agenda, my source said, they decide what information the board receives and what issues it will address. Her job is to be “a Duggan protector.” Normally the board of a large organization leaves day-to-day operations to the organization’s staff. In the case of the DLBA, though, Gerson has a great deal of influence over its priorities and functioning.
The mayor also exerts considerable control through his appointments to the five-member DLBA board. Four of the five members are his appointees, and the fifth is appointed by the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA). Of the four that he appoints, only one appointment is based on the recommendation of City Council.
Detroit developer and DLBA Vice Chair, Richard Hosey. Image courtesy of Richard Hosey/Crain’s Detroit
Vice Chair Richard Hosey, a Detroit resident and developer who specializes in building commercial spaces and upscale housing, is the board’s MSHDA appointee. Board Secretary Patricia Pernell Shelton is a real estate broker who lives in Rosedale Park. Carol Walters serves as Treasurer and runs a Milford-based philanthropic organization, the Walters Family Foundation. Miranda Morrow-Bartell, the City Council’s appointee, is also a realtor at the Ann Arbor-based National Realty Centers – Northville.
What’s missing are the voices of those who know urban planning and housing from the perspective of the thousands of Detroit residents who have to live near blighted Land Bank houses or who have trouble acquiring secure and safe housing.
Community Development Advocates of Detroit (CDAD) is one of those organizations that has been supporting and advocating for our neighborhoods and equitable development for more than 25 years. They have sent recommendations to the mayor, City Council, and DLBA for changes to the MOU that would hopefully improve the DLBA’s responsiveness to our residents.
Here’s a summary of their recommendations for new policies and procedures:
Expand the Board to nine members, four appointed by the mayor, four by City Council, and one appointed by MSHDA
All Board members should be residents of Detroit
DLB A Board members will be limited to three 4-year terms
The Board Chair shall appear twice a year before Council to give a progress report
The DLBA shall provide monthly reports of all transactions to each Council member
Council must approve the acquisition of ten or more parcels from any source
DLBA shall prioritize selling or transferring properties in the following order:
Detroit residents who are first-time homebuyers and will use the home as their primary residence.
Detroit-based nonprofits providing housing to first-time homebuyers making that home their primary residence.
Community land trusts
The DLBA will give a 50% discount on Land Bank properties to the above residents and institutions. Currently the DLBA offers a 50% discount to members of the Detroit Police Department and staff in the Detroit public schools (DPSCD).
Getting information about DLBA properties has been extremely difficult, so the CDAD recommendations also address transparency and responsiveness.
Provide a simple online form for the public to see whether a property is owned, or was previously owned, by the DLBA
DLBA staff shall hold one in-person public meeting per quarter in each City Council District. These sessions shall accept applications and provide for on-the-spot approval
‘DLBA shall respond to inquiries (phone, inperson or online) within 72 hours and document the responses
The DLBA board has had a history of selling land to large mainstream developers rather than smaller minority developers, according to my source. We should be leveling the playing field for these up-and-coming developers.
Our friends at Outlier Media have been following the Detroit Land Bank contract negotiations with City Council over the past year. If you’d like to read more about the issues, check out this article from last February or a more recent one here.
